Super Mario Bros: Endgame
by BALLZSACK-MASTER-999
Summary: It finally happened. The thing everyone has long since considered impossible happened. Bowser and his army have finally succeed in their everlasting goal. The kingdom is now unable to hold back Bowser's army from their eternal advance, and the after-effects are immediately felt. Will this be the Mushroom Kingdom's ultimate fate?
1. Fate

… _ **...Snap.**_

… _ **..Crackle.**_

… _ **...Pop.**_

 _ **Sounds like those cereal mascots way back when, right? Well, yeah, those are the names of cereal mascots, but those are also three sounds that persist in the heads of most of the Mushroomers now, and won't be forgotten anytime soon. Unfortunately, it's for no good reason.**_

 _ **If you want the reason….. Read on…..**_

 _Looking at the Mushroom Kingdom now, it's hard to believe that once (or ever), it was the model kingdom, the place that every video game location took tips from, wanted to be…. To put it bluntly, the Mushroom Kingdom today is nowhere near the vibrant, chipper happyland it was back in '85…_

 _…..Ever since the king of the Mushroom Kingdom fell in battle to Bowser and his army of minions, everything went straight to hell. Crime, death, fighting, and jaywalking are just the half of it…_

 _And if the ancient prophecies foretold in the Stars is anything to go off of, soon, not even that will matter (hell, nothing will matter anymore)._

 **The Mario Bros and every character from that series belong to Nintendo.**

 **I'm not cool enough to be copyrighted.**

* * *

 _Mushroom Kingdom_

 _Date: October 12, 2017_

 _Time: 12:00 PM_

"Welp, we're-a completely fucked-a."

For once in his life, Mario was in total agreement with his brother. While it was well too late for most people but insomniacs and night watchmen on a normal day, today was anything but a normal day. No, it would be a day that would forever change the fortunes of the Mushroom Kingdom, for the worse, one that would prove to be the worst Thursday they'd ever had.

Between the shouts of war and struggle, the cracking noises of cannons and other firearms rippling through the normally tranquil noises of nighttime, the generous heapings of thick, wide-spreading, dark-black smoke rising through the air, and the snarling, wise-cracking, plucky members of both teams now fighting with extreme spirit and horrifying efficiency, one thing was very obvious.

Bowser had attacked.

After over 30 years, that may not seem like such a major revelation. And for the most part, you'd be correct. After so long, Bowser's drawn out, elaborate, and relentless attacks and kidnappings had become known to the Mushroomers as Friday. Aside from the fact that today was a Thursday, another significant difference was present, and one that was becoming more and more obvious by the minute, as the sounds and gruesome sights of battle were starting to show.

"Yep-a," grumbled Mario. "We are-a so fucked-a."

As he was speaking, a severed, bloody, and frowning Toad head whizzed past their house, with a bright red streak glistening in the air right behind it before the unmistakable red substance splattered and spread on the floor with a grisly SPLAT, dying the floor a deathly red.

Indeed, the major difference between this and other Mushroom Kingdom VS Dark World confrontations was now pretty obvious:

Bowser's army was winning.

Maybe it was the fact the Mushroom army had been taken by surprise. Maybe they had simply upped their game. Whatever the hell the reason, the result was identical; the Mario bros were starting to doubt if the Mushroom Kingdom was gonna escape this one. And from the looks of it, and the blood splattering on the side of their house like a loose paint can sent flying, that was farfetched at best. With a heart-crushing sigh, Mario turned to Luigi and their pet/adopted son, Yoshi, with a mutual, easily-noticed despair in their eyes.

"Well-a, Mario, this might-a be the end-a."

Mario groaned and slumped in his chair, the soft cushion sagging underneath him, searching for something positive to say.

"Yep. It-a probably is." Judging from what Mario had just said, he seemed to have run out of confidence. Luigi mumbled and slumped down in the green chair next to Mario, staring at their clock, counting the almost mesmerizing tick-tock of the moving hands. Yoshi simply slumped on the floor in front of them.

"...And I-a never even-a got to-a third base-a," added the portly plumber. Even in his drooping spirits, Luigi managed an eye-roll.

 _Just how…_ Thought Luigi. _How… did Bowser and his army of low-lives get this kind of power?_

* * *

 _1 hour earlier…._

"MEN!" The unmistakable voice of authority rippled through the eerie, chilling hallways of the aged, yet still towering and menacing landmark of the Dark World, the castle of the King itself. It was a voice that made even Bowser's most confirmed of slackers and the most traitorous, sharply awaken and snap their necks in the direction of the booming noise.

This was the voice of King Bowser Koopa.

This was no ordinary speech, though. For earlier that day, Bowser, on a normal, everyday nap in the backyard of his castle. Technically, it needed repairs, but Mario and co had blasted it to bits so many times that fixing it had become meaningless.

"Might as well enjoy myself before attacking the Mushroom Kingdom again," murmured Bowser, plopping his ass on his chair and snapping open a Koopa Kola and an issue of his annual pornography magazine, Booty Frenzy. He sniffed the relatively peaceful air, savoring it's hot, smoky scent. Life was good, and the familiar hissing and crackling sound of a freshly opened Koopa Kola Classik bottle would only serve to raise Bowser's spirits.

"To me!" As he said this, the King of Koopas kicked his feet back and did an imaginary toast with his bottle, and began spraying it in his mouth…..

…before proceeding with a sitcom-style spit-take, noisily splattering bizarrely crunchy, greenish liquid all over the floor, quickly getting absorbed in the ground. With a vicious snarl and grinding teeth, Bowser violently wiped the foul liquid off his mouth and then squeezed his kola bottle with his hand.

"Ugh, forgot how awful this shit tastes!" yelled Bowser, unclenching his fist to allow the destroyed bottle to hit the floor. He proceeded to fold his arms, expecting to hear an explosive CRASH on the floor.

Weirdly, one never came. Aside from a brief grunt in confusion and an arched eyebrow from Bowser, no reaction at first. Later, he began to get confused.

"Okay, what the hell gives?!" said Mario's most frequent adversary in an exasperated tone, throwing his hands up in the air as well. Furrowing his brow, he bent down low to examine.

"Holy…" Bowser never finished his sentence. For the remains of the doomed Koopa Kola bottle had landed on a fragment of a star buried in the ground, one that was glowing with unmistakable power.

Naturally, this wiped Bowser's miserable mood away like a broom wipes dust away. "Awesome!" yelled Bowser, swiping the fragment with one fell swoop.

The 30 years+ running villain picked up this star with the gentlest of hands, taking but a moment to marvel at it's sheer beauty.

"Now, let's give this a try." Putting words to action, Bowser shoved the star fragment into his chest, ignoring the pain and absorbing the star's power.

"YES, YES, YESSSSSSS!" manically chattered the Koopa King. The power of the star had now given him a brief yellow flashing glow… before it dissipated. The power? Still had it. You can just feel it when you have even greater power than you normally do.

* * *

"And that's why I'm sure we are going to show those Mushroom Kingdom smartasses whatfore this time!" yelled Bowser at the top of his lungs.

Now he had gotten his whole army in a frenzy, hollering/yelling at the top of their lungs, throwing bottles, etc.

"NOW ARE ALL OF YOU READY?!"

"YESSSSS!"

"ARE YOU SURE?!"

This time, the army's shouts of "YESSSSS!" were so high, only dogs could hear them.

"THEN LET'S GO!"

* * *

 _Back to the present…_

The Mario Bros felt all but helpless. The only thing left for them to do was watch as their people kept getting slaughtered. Finally, the moment they'd been dreading came.

BAM! With a resounding explosion that rattled and shook the floorboards and sent heat and smoke hissing into their house, Yoshi ran and hid under a table while the Bros took cover behind their chairs as a large firewall swept through the house, like a big, yellow, ball of death incinerating much of what they called home for so many years. Even with their chairs to protect them, Mario and Luigi still felt the fiery heat and hot wind as it whizzed past their faces, causing them to shield their eyes with pure agony.

As the explosion died out, Mario dared to peek out.

Ruined.

Everything.

Gone.

Well, not quite. But most of the stuff that was still intact, was burning to a crisp and well on their way to destruction, consumed by unnaturally long, orange-yellowish flames that vividly seemed to hiss and snap at them. That description also applied to their whole house. The flames were so thick, they blocked off the sight of everything outside the house and even above the house. And yes, it was a scene quite comparable to that place you went when you died. Not heaven. The opposite, with all those smoky lava pits and suffering and torture.

"Hell," Luigi murmured, perfectly summing it up.

Even amidst all the flames, now 2 Sledge Bros were crawling through a gap in the hellish flames. Their purpose was clear, even before they announced it.

"Your time is up, Mario Bros."

They squinted underneath the table.

"...And your dinosaur…. Or dragon?"

While they were thinking, Luigi turned to Mario, a sense of renewed confidence on his face.

"So Mario-a, does it really-a have to-a end like-a this?"

It took the mustachioed Mickey mouse of gaming a second to catch his drift. When he did, though, all his fear dissipated, wiped out of existence and replaced with a smug grin.

"No-a."

Mario lifted himself out and with a swift "come here" wave, he motioned Yoshi over, and all three of them stood up and faced the Sledge Bros in a badass combat pose, ready to go.

"Not at all-a."

The Sledge Bros stopped worrying about whether Yoshi was a dino or a dragon and got into a similarly epic combat pose.

All was still for a few more seconds. The teams stared each other down. The hissing, snapping flames added a bit of atmosphere to the showdown, illuminating the combat scene.

A few more seconds passed.

"Yoshi Yoshi! (So, are we gonna fight, or not, Daddy Mario?)"

Mario sighed. "No-a."

The Sledge Bros were naturally overjoyed. They looked and nodded.

"Let's bum rush these fools!"

The two broke into a… surprisingly fast sprint.

"We are not-a going to fight-a."

The first of the Sledge Bros had reached Mario by now. Panting, that was clearly overridden by a feeling of pride, made all the more obvious by the knock-out fist he was currently winding up, with a more and more threatening spinning sound the faster he wound up. Finally finished, with a heave, he threw his fist at the legend's face.

"We are-a going to obliterate-a."

Not only was this line complimented by a Vegeta-esque smirk, but Mario lifted up his hand and swung out with a punch of his own, matching the Sledge Bro's.

The two punches solidly collided at the same time, shaking both off a bit (but creating an awesome sounding, if I do say so myself impact hit). Recognizing he couldn't overpower the Sledge Bro, Mario decided to press his superior speed, uncurling with a vicious flurry of punches.

Success. The Sledge Bro, not being fast enough, took a solid right cross to the temple. It was a perfect impact, one of those hard ones with an audible CR-ACK that made the eyes bug out. With but a single gasp and some blood splattering behind him to leave some lovely red marks on their burning floor, Bowser's hapless minion tumbled down, flat on his back.

Luigi and Yoshi, inspired by Mario's actions, decided to gang up on the 2nd Sledge Bro, the former jumping up with a charged up punch and the latter preparing to use a tongue attack.

All the other Sledge Bro could say? "Mommy…."

Yoshi struck first. Alternating positions with Luigi in a criss-cross formation, Yoshi stuck out with his signature, wrapping his freak-of-nature tongue around the poor Sledge Bro's body, pulling him up…

...and right into Luigi's charged-up fist, smashing his nose in with a CRUNCH, and coating his fist dark red with the Sledge Bro's blood.

The Sledge Bro flew downwards, until his dead body met the floor with a resounding KA-BLAM and a crater being formed.

Yoshi and Luigi, meanwhile, made a perfect landing, all leg on the floor, and faced the screen and gave some poses to the audience in celebration. Running up to Mario, the trio all gave a super high-five, celebrating their triumph.

"Yup. We're-a back in business-a," said Mario.

"Yoshi Yoshi yaa-shiiiii! (Okay, what's the next order of business?)"

Yoshi was interrupted by Luigi grabbing onto his saddle and swinging expertly on like it was a rodeo, plopping his ass on perfectly, causing Yoshi to briefly yelp and pop up in the air a bit, but he swiftly snapped his head to attention, staring at both his masters with a steely, yet obedient glare, showing how determined he was to listen and follow out his master's every order.

Luigi cleared his throat few times. In that time, Mario had thrusted himself onto Yoshi's back as well, except with a much uglier motion, finally landing hard on his saddle, causing the poor dino to begin struggling to hold up the weight.

"Next order-a: GET THE FUCK-A OUT!"

Those forceful words were Luigi's. And indeed, Yoshi kicked a blue shell from his vast collection of his memorabilia from past adventures, flipped up perfectly in the air, and spun around, catching it upside down.

Indeed, Yoshi went through a dramatic transformation, with an unmistakable bright glow emitting from his body, an intensely blinding one that made the brothers gasp and cover their eyes. (The glow also created a pretty cool silhouette. Yoshi was taking it all in, the smiling dino now forming his body into a T-shape as the transformation completed.

He was now able to fly. Yoshi floated around briefly, sighing at the memories from Mario World. With a gasp, he remembered what he had to do, and flew out just in time, as now, their house was completely gone. Just a big, hellish fireball.

"God. Damn." Luigi sniffed and got out a tissue. Years of memory, gone. Just like that.

"Well," responded the portly plumber with a sigh. "What's done-a is done. It's all over-a."

A hammer rudely interrupted the depression of the Mario Bros, swishing past them with a very loud WOOOSH, causing a big splash of air that caused the Mario Bros to nearly lose their balance.

The most iconic gaming character of all time decided to take a quick peek, squinting at the carnage below. The soon to be victims of the trio were a Hammer Bro, stretching his skinny arms back and forth, and a Shy Guy standing on his head, holding a bomb and fidgeting, sweating up a storm, and barely holding the bomb with his shuddering, pale hands.

The Hammer Bro was not scared, though. Quite the opposite, he was really exercising his vocal cords. "C'mon, Mario Bros! You gonna just take that, pussies?! This is our kingdom now, fools!"

That settled it. Mario and Luigi turned and nodded, in another moment of brotherly unison. Slowly, the former flipped direction, and prushed his finger hard upon Yoshi's chest. His message was clear. Attack. Leave not a survivor.

Yoshi didn't dilly-dally, either. He rose up for a very brief period, and flew down, hard. Some onlookers would later compare Yoshi's flight to that of a missile, a big, green, destructive missile. The Hammer Bro stopped speaking, but the smug grin was still present. He was still on the end of a losing battle…

But suddenly, a fireball crashed on the bomb the Shy Guy was holding just before impact, instantly exploding both the Hammer Bro and Shy Guy. The proving sign was the blood and limbs flying out of the deathly explosion.

Yoshi failed to notice, and he kept on going, finally crashing into the ground, headfirst, with a yelp signifying he realized too late.

Not very long afterwards, squeaky footsteps were heard approaching their direction. When the figure showed up, it's identity was revealed; it was their good friend, Toad himself, with a Fire Flower in his hands.

"Finally! Some more allies! What's up, Mario Bros?!" yelled Toad. Unsurprisingly, he had come up with the idea to fight well before the Marios did.

A bit of backstory here: Toad, the most well known of the shrooms, was the first person to greet the Marios when they came into the Mushroom Kingdom so many years ago, and had remained their best friend ever since.

He had always been the one to show the least amount of fear in situations that would otherwise scare the crap out of most people. He was far less forgiving, more willing to kill than the Bros, and always ready for a good fight.

This was all accompanied by a single, perpetual smug grin, the same he was flashing as he waltzed up to the brothers.

"I've been waiting for you two." He fidgeted, one foot behind the other, searching for more words.

Luigi stepped in for him. "Glad to see-a you well-a, Toad."

"How about-a we stop-a talking and keep on-a fighting?" suggested Mario.

Toad flashed a grin at the Mario Bros. "You know me so well."

They turned around, and rushed through the oncoming hordes of Bowser's minions, separating paths briefly.

Mario leaped over a Goomba's pathetic charge, grabbed the Goomba by the top of his head, and with an effortless, yet strength-exposing flex of his well-toned arms, the Goomba found himself face-first in the dirt, now stained with his own red, salty blood. That did not conclude the beating, as now, Mario followed it up with his signature Goomba-stomp, cracking all the bones of the downed enemy and crushing his back and skin into a deathly, red paste.

Toad dove towards a Koopa Troopa, the latter of whom could only utter a brief gasp before getting grasped in a chokehold. This was already quite nasty, but instead of following through with a choking, Toad settled on squeezing his prey's neck harder and harder, causing the Koopa's face to quiver more and more as his head swelled more and more, until finally, with a final squeeze of passion, the Koopa's head popped like a water balloon, flinging brain matter, blood, and skull fragments in all directions, including the mushroomer's face. Not that he gave a damn. Rather, he thought the dripping red body fluids splattered over his face added an extra layer of menace to his appearance. Indeed, with a cruel grin on his face, Toad now actually looked pretty scary, and many of the minions were backing away in horror.

Luigi and Yoshi, meanwhile, stuck together. On Yoshi's back, Nintendo's eternal whipping boy got out his hammer, and with a battle cry, he began timing his shots to clash with Bowser's aerial troops, akin to an expert display of polo. Try as Bowser's underling may, none of the Koopa Paratroopas, Paragoombas, Fly Guys, Bullet Bills, etc, would taste anything but a hard hammer to the face, blood in their mouths, and maybe the remnants of whatever weapon they were holding prior to their smackdown. As the last of the Fly Guys fell, Luigi turned to Yoshi and they cheered.

Right around then, all 4 of the heroes crossed paths again.

"I forgot-a how good-a it felt to fight-a." Luigi slapped five with Toad.

"Guess it helps this battle's a badass one that our future will probably depend on."

"True-a."

They turned towards all the minions, and in a back to back formation, Bowser's foolish minions were shut down by the bros, Toad, and Yoshi with little effort.

If you think someone's missing from this fight, though, you aren't the only one….

 _MEANWHILE…._

Amidst all the struggling and chaos, there was one conspicuous absence from this not-so-joyous occasion, though everyone was much too preoccupied to take notice:

Bowser.

He didn't miss the party, though. Far from it.

In fact, the party was about to go into full swing.

While his troops were clashing with the Mushroomers, Bowser had snuck in, through the path of least resistance; right into the castle of the Toadstool castle, effortlessly sneaking through the doors, without so much as a raised eyebrow in the castle's direction.

In fact, none of the competent warriors were in the castle; they had all rushed out to join in the Great Mushroom War of 2017. Bowser smirked, unable to believe how easily he snuck in.

"Pathetic," he grumbled. At the same time, he wasn't stalling, as he immediately walked towards the throne room. He expected an easy stroll.

It was even easier than he thought. The only people in his way were some weak Mushroom Retainers who tried with no avail to shove him away. Their weak muscles bulged as far as they possibly could, with arms thrusting out, propelling the next Retainer in line further, to try to shove the Kingdom's biggest threat far away.

Ultimately, it was a wasted effort. (Not even that. That would be generous). Bowser would not be denied. The King grumbled and looked at his watch.

"Aye caramba." The Koopa King shook his sad, lumbering head, and deduced it was time to put an end to this party. He grasped the first Mushroomer with his head, who was so locked into his feeble attempt at offense that he didn't even notice his impending doom. Just as well.

Bowser turned around, grunted, and with a razor-sharp noise, and with the precision and accuracy only a seasoned expert could have, he launched a single spike out of his shell, landing squarely on the floor. He then squeezed the Retainer into the shape of a bowling ball with a sickly CRUNCH, shattering nearly every fragile bone in his body, and took a few steps, flinging it just like a bowling ball.

The Retainer rolled on the razor-sharp spike first, ripping through his skin in several places, killing him instantly and reddening the ball. The carnage didn't end there, for now, while his body left a flowing red trail of blood and intestines behind it, he would hit every other retainer in the line, knocking them over like bowling balls, before finally, the Retainer's horrifically mangled corpse fell down to a screeching halt, face-down, with the remainder of the blood bleeding out and forming a huge, red, thick puddle around the corpse. The king fist pumped in celebration.

"STRIKE!" Bowser chortled heartily at the mess in front of him.

"Normally, I suck at bowling," he murmured to himself. He advanced towards the roof of the castle.

By the time he reached the top, there were organs in his hand and his heads were stained red with mushroom gore. Those were the least of Bowser's concerns, though. Because now, he stood face to face with the Mushroom King.

If I could just kill him, the battle will be won. Those bastards will have no choice but to surrender! Echoed the Koopa Klan leader's thoughts.

Opposite of Bowser lay his foe, the Mushroom King. King Toadstool himself. Despite normally being quite ditzy and non-serious, the king was able to immediately understand that this was it, and assumed a vicious battle stance.

For a moment, all was still. The two kings glared at each other, nothing but pure hatred in their eyes.

The King took a few valiant steps towards the giant beast in front of him, seemingly unfaltered. A storm was beginning to brew up above them, as the cracking sound of thunder wasn't far off in the dark and gloomy sky.

"Y'know, I don't have to slaughter you in cold blood," said Bowser. "Just take the easy way out and surrender your sappy kingdom to me, the King of Awesome, or the hard way, and pay the consequences."

Now, you could ask just about anyone who knew the Mushroom King, and they would tell you he was scatterbrained, dimwitted, and several other nasty remarks other members of the Mushroom Kingdom made behind his back, all true.

In most cases.

But now, faced with mortal danger, the King seemed to be a different person entirely. All the fear that should have been there, did not exist. The opposite, in fact; he couldn't have possibly looked more confident, as he was still steadily approaching the mortal enemy of the kingdom, and now slowly reaching behind the back of his robe.

This was his kingdom. His land. He would do all he could do for it. And it was then, that the Mushroom King finally spoke.

"I don't believe in easy. Nor do I believe in surrender."

Without even giving Bowser time to process those awesome words, King Toadstool followed up with another shocking reveal; the item he had been grasping for was in fact, an antique samurai sword he kept hidden in a traditional sheath. He had been instructed by his father to use only for emergency purposes.

Well, if this wasn't an emergency, nothing was.

SWISH! At once, King Toadstool uncurled with a vicious upwards cut, which dug through Bowser's skin and ended right before his neck, a detail he would vividly (and unentusiastically) recall for a while afterwards. The gaping wound forced out a moderate quantity of gore, some of which splattered beyond the Mushroom King (except for some that splattered on the front of him). Bowser staggered backwards a bit, trying to regain his composure.

By this point, there were no sets of eyes on the ground that weren't now staring at the top of Princess Peach's Castle. Everyone previously occupied with a life-and-death battle temporarily relented, diverting their focus to the clash between the two kings.

"Holy shit-a." Mario looked up, wide-eyed. Although only the silhouettes of both Bowser and King Toadstool were visible, despite the frequent flashes of lightning helping somewhat to illuminate the duel, the movement between the two made it clear what was going on.

"No…" murmured fair Princess Peach, currently handcuffed by a Chargin' Chuck, with nothing to do but watch and pray.

Bowser, still clearly shocked and in pain, backed up a bit, now flailing close to the edge of the castle walls, and waving his arms and staggering.

"So, that's how it's going to be, eh?" Even in his current condition, Bowser hadn't lost the unmistakable arrogance in his voice.

The reply never came. The Mushroom King lashed out again.

Bowser parried with a rising claw.

BAM! BANG! CLANG!

Bowser threw a left hook.

And the King countered again.

The process repeated itself, bit by bit, until now they were both standing on level ground again. They both pressed on the offense, slashing, parrying, and neither were going to give in.

The King found an opening.

After a horribly whiffed uppercut, King Toadstool stabbed Bowser in the chest.

And cut upwards.

He removed the sword, and tackled Bowser to the floor.

 _Well, this it it,_ thought Bowser, now lying face down.

The King seemed to know it too. He was now readying the decapitation blow. Down below, Bowser's army seemed absolutely horrified, some already weeping. If their king was slain, there would be no more they could do.

This absolutely wasn't true in the case of the Mushroomers, who were cheering and whooping like they never had before.

Bowser felt just as hopeless as his minions. A whole lifetime of memories began flowing through his head...

...But were interrupted by a very clever brainstorm.

Quickly, he ducked into his shell as King Toadstool unleashed his murder blow.

The shell blocked it, and King Toadstool stumbled briefly.

And just like that, the Mushroomers stood jaw-dropped and Bowser's army looked up, fist-pumping and cheering.

Bowser swiftly pulled up the king by his collar, with a nasty rip down the front of the robe audible to both of them. Bowser paid no mind, and winded up his signature punch, smacking the king cleanly in his regal face, sending him weakly sprawling across the floor.

The Mushroom King struggled to pick himself up, regain his bearings. His vision was blurring, and he began to see a few more stars in the sky

He got kicked squarely in the side.

He tumbled across, to the side of the castle once again.

Groaning, he held up his hand on the back of the crumbling support pillar. This time, there was an even fainter attempt at recovery. It was clear the life was sapping from his body rapidly.

The Toads down below crossed their fingers, hoping for a miracle.

So far, Bowser was now knocking the Mushroom King around like a ragdoll, so the odds seemed limited at best.

Bowser grabbed him again, and pounded at his chest a final time, with a loud _SNAP!_

The bruised and bloody king had the taste of blood running across his mouth. He barely looked up as Bowser stood above him, with a gesture that made it clear the battle was over.

"Well, looks like it all ends here, paley-o." Bowser chuckled heartily and continued to advance.

"I'll try not to ruin your precious tie with this blow."

Bowser heavily slashed downwards, slicing through the king's shoulder, only briefly stopping at the first, second, and third ribs, with a resounding _CRACKLE!_

And that was that. The Mushroom King tried to inhale. No air came back out. Bowser ignored everything else, including the rain now splattering downwards and the storm now in full swing, lighting strikes everywhere, slowly pulled his bloody claw out from the king's body, dragging along some bloody flesh, with a brutal _POP!_ To finish off.

"No!" gasped the Princess.

Before anyone else had time to say anything, Bowser wound up his most brutal slice of the night. It was a simple, short and sweet compact swing, one that everyone heard decapitate the former Mushroom King. In the dark of the night, King Toadstool's head rolled sideways on the top of the castle, a continuously gushing flow of blood spilling from it's neck, which ended up quickly washed away by the rain, which was absolutely pouring now.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds. Their brains were still processing, trying to remember the rules regarding a king's defeat in battle in the Mushroom world. Bowser recalled said rule before everyone else did.

"Looks like I rule you sorry pack of mother fuckers now."

At that, Bowser's army erupted into a series of cheers and dance moves to celebrate. They had finally done it. The Mushroom Kingdom was theirs.

As for the Mushroom Kingdom residents? None of them could possibly have looked more hopeless. Peach, Luigi, Yoshi and most of the members of the army (well, the 1/4th of the army that hadn't been horrifically killed) were already sobbing wrecks. Mario knelt down on one knee and stopped resisting. His hammer bounced weakly off the floor as his fist unclenched it.

And Toad? He just looked up, clearly saddened, and yet, looking like he still had a bit more fight left.

"This isn't over…" he murmured silently.

But it was.

Bowser relished the scene, sucking in all the joys for as long as he could. He could have said a particularly badass line. But for now, he was content with simply folding his arms and glaring down at all his mortal enemies, who only saw his badass silhouette staring down at them.

And that was it. On this very day, the history of the Kingdom we all know and love, was flipped around entirely. There was nothing more anyone in the Kingdom could do. And by now, on the blood and guts stained battlefield of suffering and total woe, as the worst rainstorm/thunderstorm combination to ever befall the land in a very long while, everyone had realized that.

 _Yup, cry my little lambkins._

Bowser got out his walkie talkie. "Everyone at the castle, come here. Bring the party equipment and the doomships. We've got another kingdom to add to our arsenal here, and we are going to celebrate as only the mighty Koopa Klan can! What kingdom? Why, only the fucking Mushroom Kingdom!"

For extra emphasis, Bowser slammed his walkie talkie on the ground, and resumed laughing.

 _Cry. It's all you can do._

This was his kingdom. His land. He would do all he could do for it. First step of order? Merging it with the Koopa Klan. After that, who knows? Bowser was grinning just at the mere thought.

 _No! It can't-a end like-a this!_ Thought Mario.

 _Not as long-a as there is-a still a breath-a in my body-a..._

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

...

 **Well, it was great to finally be writing that down. Please, share your thoughts by making a review. I love reading them, and finding out how I cam improve my work further. (If you made it to the end, though, that's very awesome too.)**


	2. Oblivion

_Hello everybody, and welcome to Chapter 2 of Endgame! This one has been in the workshop for a bit, and I'm happy to finally have it finished, and I really hope you enjoy. So, yeah, like before, if you have any questions, want to help me improve, or want to share your thoughts positive or negative, then just send a review.  
_

* * *

 **Summary:** A look at how being ruled by Bowser has affected the Mushroom Kingdom so far.

* * *

 _Mushroom Kingdom_

 _Time: 11:50 AM_

"It's a good time to be alive."

Bowser lay back in his armchair, smirking as he looked over all the pathetic underlings of his newest kingdom, the Mushroom Kingdom, from the top of his Doomship. Just a day ago, Bowser and his army had devastated the Mushroom Kingdom, left nearly no survivors, and took control over the land. As ridiculous as it may sound, it did happen.

Now, Bowser and his army were simply partying to celebrate their takeover of the once mighty Mushroom Kingdom, rub their victory in the surviving Mushroomer's faces, y'know, fun stuff like that.

The Koopa King looked at his watch and grumbled. The people bringing the party decorations were late, as usual.

"Worthless pieces of shit….. Why haven't I fired the lot of them?"

* * *

Down below, all of the survivors in the Mushroom Kingdom were absolutely miserable. Their new ruler, Bowser, had ensured to the best of his ability that the Mushroomers would feel the same pain he did all those years of being trounced by Mario and his friends. He was molding the Kingdom in his image, and everybody who dared to express outrage over this (or even mumbled something along the lines of "this is unfair" or "this sucks so hard") was guaranteed to get their brains blasted out, stabbed to death, forced to eat an exploding Bob-omb, or whatever gruesome torture the Sledge Bros that patrolled the streets could come up with. Right now, all the survivors (the number of which seemed to decrease every day) could do was idly sit by and mourn as all the landmarks of a formerly beautiful kingdom were destroyed/rebuilt to honor the mighty Koopa Klan.

Two people in the front row were the wounded and battered Mario Bros. Bowser had made sure of that. They watched with everyone else as their land, their kingdom, was remodeled.

"Never-a, in a thousand-a damn years-a, did I-a ever think-a Bowser would-a be able-a to overthrow-a us."

Mario let his words float along in the air for a bit. There was no response. Mario peered with a questioning glance at his brother.

Luigi was just hopelessly peering downwards at the floor, with nothing more than an occasional mumble in depression escaping him. And who could blame him? Not only had the war been lost, but he, Mario and Yoshi had lost pretty much everything they ever owned, including their house, and years of memory.

Speaking of which, Yoshi was still there with his masters, napping in front of their chairs, in spite of the ground still being damp and musty from yesterday's horrible rainstorm. Then again, if he was seen crying in front of the barbaric Sledge Bros, they probably would have shot his head off right then and there.

Mario took a deep breath, tensing every single bone in his portly body.

"Well…."

The heroic plumber took a long, hard look at the land around him. The dark, ashy, smoky, choking air screamed out in horrible, blood-curling agony. High, smoldering pieces of rubble were visible as final remnants of the landmarks that had been destroyed in yesterday's war. Seemingly endless rows of sickly, ghastly corpses, Mushroom citizens marching in single file lines cuffed to each other, and the horrifying, desperate cries of the soon-to-be-dead Mushroomers clouded the air to accompany the gut-wrenching sights of them weakly, uselessly trying to drag their bleeding and mutilated bodies across the ground before finally dying. All the while the heartless Sledge Bros kept on battering, bruising, and killing anyone they pleased. If there was a true hell on earth, this was it.

Mario slowly turned his head back to his brother and shook his head sadly.

"I've got-a nothing…..."

To Mario's great surprise, his lanky brother in green was getting up slowly and stretching. He slowly opened his mouth and raised his forefinger in questioning, but his bro shushed him.

"I'm-a going for a walk-a. If we-a have to live-a under these-a conditions now-a, I'd-a rather be in-a good shape-a than become-a a fatass like-a you." Luigi playfully shoved Mario whilst chuckling.

Mario's face curled up in a display of mock anger He galloped after Luigi, sneering all the way. "Oh hell-a no. You're just-a jealous of my-a natural boyish good looks-a!" He chased after his brother, with both of them chuckling as they ran up the sidewalk.

* * *

At last, the party company had come, with decorations and a DJ, and the Koopa Troop's party could get started at last. The party was, to describe it simply, awesome. The Mushroomers may have hated their guts, but from what they could witness from the sidelines, they had to begrudgingly admit that the Koopa army really knew how to to party. Plenty tried to break into the action, but the break-dancing Koopas had formed a weird sort of barrier that blocked out any non-evil people from entering the party. Eventually, throwing his hands in the air with a grunt in exasperation, the final Mushroomer sat back down on the damp grass, sulking in his depression.

Indeed, their celebratory party was big. Bigger than big. Not only did it take up all of the central plaza of Toad Town, but it also spilled into several people's front and backyards and all the Doomships that Bowser had in his arsenal.

"This shit is da BOMB!" laughed a horribly drunken Koopa Troopa.

This did little to concern the Marios, who continued to rush up the street. By this point in time, Yoshi had noticed his masters had left, and was blazing through the streets like a tornado.

"Yoshi yoshi yoshi! (Mommy! Daddy! Wait up!)"

In spite of his pleas, Mario and Luigi didn't slow down, as they saw another good pal of theirs sitting on the grass.

Of course, it was Toad, who was busy raising his middle finger at the partying Koopas in contempt. The bros plopped down next to the plucky shroom, who perked up upon sighting them.

"Hey, bros, what's up?!"

"Not-a much-a," replied Luigi. "Just-a exercising all up-a in here-a. If-a there's a big revolution-a, I'd rather keep-a my good looks-a than become-a a giant tub-a of goo-a like my bro-a here."

Mario pretended to be offended. "Oh, fuck-a you!" he yelled, playfully waving his brother away. "But anyways-a, whatcha doing-a, Toad?"

Toad shrugged. "Not much, honestly. Just showing as much disrespect to these Nazis as possible without getting shot."

"Ey, man. I feel ya." Luigi cleared his throat. "But, uh, would you rather finish this conversation in my casino, before it gets remodeled into Bowser's casino or something of that nature?"

By then, Yoshi had finally caught up with the rest of the crew. He was slowly panting, trying to catch his breath. Instead of sitting down with the trio, Yoshi just fell downwards, flat on his face.

Toad paid no mind, already stretching up and nodding at the crew.

"Yeah, sure-a," agreed the Mushroom Kingdom's hero. He bent down over to Yoshi, slowly poking him. "Hey, come on-a. To Luigi's Casino-a. Hup-hup!"

Yoshi nodded and with a giant grunt and heave in effort, pushed himself up. He then eagerly bent over into a hunched stance, leaving his saddle wide open for jumping. As per usual.

Mario jumped onto his back. As per usual.

The 4 headed off towards Luigi's casino, bypassing the reckless clatter of the residents, the blood on the walls, and the corpses all around them.

* * *

 _Bowser's Doomship_

 _Time: 8:50 PM_

It is always a sad scene right after a big party ends, and this one was no exception. Streamers that, only hours before were being thrown up like confetti, now just lay down on chairs, the floor, and the tables, limply, uselessly, sadly, barely noticeable within the dark and empty party room. There was not a soul to be seen, apart from a few drunken stragglers, all passed out peacefully within their own sickly, collecting pools of vomit, mumbling incoherently about god knows what. Pieces of jagged, broken beer bottles, crumbs of cake, shaved ice, and other food items lay hardened on the freezing carpet, and the pungent aroma of spilled liquor permeated the room.

A lone walking figure seemed to care less. He still solemnly marched towards the door at the opposite end leading to Bowser's door, his feet slowly sagging into the ground with each step.

The figure slowly opened his lord's door.

Fortunately, Bowser was there….. busy french-kissing a nearly-naked, busty Shy Girl stripper lying in his lap. It was all the figure could do not to facepalm.

"What the hell do you want, Kamek? What have I told you about barging in when a stripper's lying half-naked on my lap?" Miraculously, Bowser had actually bothered to look at the figure (who was indeed Kamek).

Kamek sighed. "Lord Bowser, you have full rulership of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the first thing you do is hire a stripper to fuck you left and right?... But that's besides the point."

Bowser's top magikoopa paused mid-sentence, carefully thinking about how to speak around someone like Bowser. Carefully, he continued.

"...So, you say this Power-Star esque object that you jammed into your chest…. You just found it buried in the ground, just like that?"

"Yes, just like that. I absorbed it's energy, became powerful as hell, got a badass scar on my chest, and became the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom 'cause I'm awesome. Okay, conversation's over."

Bowser resumed kissing the Shy Gal, now also clutching her ass with his free hand, clearly not giving Kamek a second thought.

Kamek sighed, shaking his head. He was tempted to end the conversation right there, but he still had his doubts and worries.

"Okay," Kamek bravely resumed. "I don't think stars just, well, end up in the ground just like that. Something might be wrong. It's just a hunch, but…. I feel it would be wise if I sent that star to our scientists to determine it's origin-"

"Proud to serve you, o mighty and strong one…" moaned Stripper (which was the actual name of the Shy Gal), now lying aside Bowser.

"Bah, it's nothing you need to thank me for," replied the Koopa King. He lazily rose up, yawning and stretching his arms. "Matter of fact, _I_ should be the one thanking _you_."

A sly grin formed at the corner of Bowser's lips. "If you still insist on thanking me, though, you can do it by pulling off your top and-"

"ENNNNNOOOOOOOOUGGGGH!" screamed Kamek at the top of his lungs, the volume so high that the glass window shattered into hundreds of pieces.

To put it lightly, Bowser and Stripper were astonished that someone of Kamek's stature could produce such a loud noise. They stood, mouths agape, for a solid 10 seconds. For those same 10 seconds, Kamek stood still, breathing slowly to regain his speaking voice.

"Well," resumed Kamek, in a normal speaking voice this time, "As I was SAYING, I will take this right now and send it to our-"

"Like hell you will!" interrupted Bowser, who then leaped across the room with surprising speed for one of his girth, pinning Kamek to the floor with one beefy fist before the latter could so much as gasp in shock.

"Now, listen here, lackey! It was that star fragment that helped me overthrow the Mushroomers, and I sure as fuck am not going to give it up just for you to do your nerdy science on it!

Pausing mid-sentence, Bowser slammed his foot down on the ground to emphasize his point. "THIS IS MY STAR! Understand, you goddamn magikoopa?!"

Unfortunately, the earthquake caused by aforementioned foot-stomping was powerful enough to send the star fragment hurtling through the air with a _WOOSH._ As if that wasn't unlucky enough, Bowser and Kamek got the pleasure of seeing the fragment finally descend… right out the window.

"...NOOOOOOO!" the two of them both yelled, simultaneously chasing after the star fragment.

It seemed impossible, but with a final mighty grunt, the Koopa King's feet lifted off from the ground, and like a heat-seeking missile locked onto it's target, he streaked in a flawless diving grab and recovered the artifact of mystical power.

"YEAH, BABY!" Bowser gloated, showboating and fist-pumping to celebrate having recovered the source of his power. He turned to Kamek, and shot him a quick glare that was able to perfectly convey his message.

"...Yeah, yeah, I'm going," sighed Kamek, the downtrodden magikoopa turning around and walking out of Bowser's room.

It's too bad Bowser didn't think to look down out the window. If he did, he would have noticed that he only grabbed half of the shard. The other half was falling down to Earth….

* * *

Luigi's Casino was still very full, perhaps in spite of the Kingdom's recent…. Troubles. The noises of scrappers slamming down cards, the addictive noises of the slot machines and the sounds of beverages being prepared remained just as prevalent as any other day, as were the frequent blinking lights. The person hiding in the corner from the armed thugs looking for his lunch money, the guy passed out in his seventh cup of beer, and that one big spender in the corner who seemed to win every thinking game he challenged people too (whether by cheating or not everyone still debated), alongside others, were still present in the area. It was almost as if nothing had happened… almost.

The normally perky Toad waitress now strutted up with a defeated pose as she went up to take the crew's order.

"Hey….." Her voice seemed to trail off into the distance, with an eternity passing before she spoke again. "We decided to make everything on the house today to give people at least one thing to smile about. I-I h-hope that's okay with you, Luigi?"

Her grief was poorly disguised by a cheesy smile. Luigi sighed and slowly nodded. He just couldn't say no to her.

"Now that's what I'm talking about, bitch. I'll have all the liquor I can stomach," grinned Toad.

"Okay-a, I'll take-a some of the seafood-a."

"Er, yeah, same-a as him," Luigi mumbled to the ground. The waitress nodded and dashed off with their orders.

Mario cast a questioning glance at Luigi. Normally, he didn't order so quickly, and he always ordered the hot fudge sundae.

"Got-a something on your-a mind again-a, bro?" Mario questioned with genuine concern. He busted Luigi's chops often-brothers are supposed to do that-but he could tell this was different.

Luigi straightened himself up. "Well….. I've-a been thinking. Bowser's already our ruler-a, right?"

Murmurs of "yeah" and "don't remind me" were heard at not only their table, but from a few onlookers who had blown their tokens and decided to drop in on the conversation.

"That's-a already awesome for-a him-a, but I-a know him. We've been-a fighting him-a since birth-a. Even before-a we fell down that-a drain in Brooklyn-a and returned here-a, we knew him-a all too well. Do you really-a think he's just-a gonna lie down-a and say "Yup, all satisfied" just like that?"

Murmurs of "shit, he's got a point" and "oh, no" were audible.

"He's got some sort of-a master agenda planned-a, knowing him-a. This is probably-a just the tip-a of the iceberg-a. I'll bet right-a now, he's already-a thinking of what he's-a gonna do next-a, and this will be nothing-a. So yeah-a, I can't really enjoy-a myself now."

Everyone nodded with total understanding. Mario looked down slowly at the floor, realizing his bro was right.

...He hated when that happened.

* * *

"I never thought the day would come so soon…"

Merlon, one of the resident wizards of the Mushroom Kingdom, was now lying on a lawn chair in his front yard, taking a moment to reflect on everything that had happened in the last couple of hours in the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Let's see…. Bowser and his army stormed into the Mushroom Kingdom in the middle of the night, and for some reason, were much more powerful than normal. Bowser killed the Mushroom King, and now he's our ruler, and he's making our lives hell," Merlon muttered to no one in particular, perfectly summing up the events.

Right above him, meanwhile, the star fragment spiraled downwards, faster and faster, until it finally bonked Merlon on his head, eliciting a grunt in pain.

"I TOLD you ruffians, I wasn-"

Suddenly, all words failed the sage. He just stood there, gawking in shock, eyes firmly glued to the star fragment, jaw dropped, unable to say anything except an occasional gasp in shock.

Because, you see, this was more than just a star fragment. This didn't just come from any old Power Star. If his hunches were correct, soon, a Mushroom Kingdom ruled by Bowser would be the least of the kingdom's (hell, the least of the universe's) troubles.

"No….."

The old sage shook his head sadly. There was no sense waiting. He whipped out his cell phone, opened up to his contacts, and speed-dialed the one hero that could save them now.

* * *

The conversation Mario, Luigi, and Toad had been having was still going strong.

"So," said Toad, slamming his fifth cup of beer down on the counter with a resounding slam, "what do you suggest that we-"

Without warning, a loud, noisy playing of DJ Khaled's "I'm the One" blared out, causing everyone in the casino to turn up from whatever they were doing prior and wonder who was being so careless as to let their ringtone go off in public.

"Who did-a that?!" questioned Mario.

…..Mario's expression changed from confusion to realization and embarrassment as he suddenly remembered that it was his ringtone. His face suddenly became fire-hose red as he scavenged in his wallet.

"...Realization, huh?" snickered Luigi.

"Oh, shut the hell-a up."

Mario flicked open his cell phone and answered the call.

"It's-a me, Mario!... Oh hey-a, Merlon….. Wait, Merlon? What the… look-a, if this is about-a that time-a I dropped-a your toothbrush-a in the toilet and just put it back on the counter, then I swear I was going to tell you!"

"...Wait, what?"

"...Uh… I didn't say-a anything. Carry on-a."

"Okay…. Well, look, I'd imagine that now, this would be the last thing that anyone in the Kingdom, let alone you, would want to hear right about now, but…."

Merlon had assumed correctly. The mustachioed plumber suddenly went quiet, silently dreading as he contemplated all the possible answers to the question he was about to ask.

"...Like what-a?"

The old sage silently shuddered, loath to admit he had no idea how to answer this question. He too began contemplating how he should say it. Finally, heavy-hearted, Merlon chose to just break the news.

"Well…." Merlon's voice was shuddering, barely a whisper, gentle as a summer breeze.

Although Luigi, Yoshi and Toad couldn't hear anything Merlon was saying (nor did they even know who Mario was talking to), the expressions on Mario's face and his responses told much of the story for them. They stood close, staring with rapt attention.

"Oh my-a… oh my-a….…" All the color had long since been drained from the plumber's face.

Merlon sighed. "I wish that I didn't have to tell you all this, but as our hero, you had to be alerted. If you have any friends with you wherever you are, bring them all to my house. I'll brief them all there."

"Will do. Bye."

Mario slammed his cell shut. Luigi, Yoshi and Toad were still glancing at their friend with an unwavering gaze, waiting for him to brief them.

Mario glanced at his curious friends, eyes welling with sorrow. He had to tell them, but how could he do it without breaking their spirits further?

He ultimately decided to leave out a few parts for the time being.

"Come to Merlon's-a house now-a. All of us-a."

Luigi's eyes widened. "M-m-merlon's-a house? Did he-a find out about-a the time-a you-"

"NO-A, it's not about-a that!" yelled Mario, quickly shushing his bro. "Just… follow me-a. All of you."

With that, the stoic plumber turned around and solemnly marched out the door to the casino.

Toad and Luigi shared a quick, uneasy glance. Although they were two very different people, they could tell that they both were thinking the exact same thing.

Whatever had happened, it was not good.

* * *

At that very same time, Bowser was busy in his office, pondering a very important question.

What now?

"Hmmmm….." grumbled the stressed Koopa King.

He took a long, sweeping look along the room. "Well….. Whatever move I make next, it'll have to be carefully planned. One false move, and we'll be back to Square one. No, not even that. We'd be worse off than we were before," he slowly mumbled to himself.

Bowser stood up from his throne. "I'll sleep on it. For now, I gotta write a lengthy speech to give to these pathetic shrooms tomorrow morning. See you some other time, Stripper."

Finally, the Koopa King slammed the door behind him.

After his mighty, lumbering footsteps were no longer audible, there was an uncomfortable silence. Stripper cast a glance at the…. Screen?

"Errrrr…." She paused, putting her hand on her breast as she considered her words.

"Well…. Looks like I'm the last one here….. So, I guess it's up to me to end this chapter." She timidly waved at the reader. "So, uh, bye… see you some other time!" She continued waving as the sound faded.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	3. Nothing More

_Hey guys, sorry for the longer wait this time. I've never been described as a fast worker in general, and there was a lot of stuff that I had to spend plenty of time thinkin about, plus, real life. I managed to finish this chapter, however, and now mere hours after being finalized, you all get to see it. I will be taking a small break to pursue other interests and write some other smaller fanfics. Also, some stuff later on is gonna require a bit more talent than I posses at the time of writing for me to, well, make it work, so I'm trying to take it slow and polish my writing style. I'm covering some pretty heavy stuff later on, and I also want to balance it out with slightly more humorous fics to ease back in slowly. With that out of the way, enjoy!_

* * *

 **Summary:** The meeting at Merlon's house is a very shocking one. Also, Bowser's epic speech is not going so hot.

* * *

 _Mushroom Kingdom_

 _Time: 9:12 PM_

"Your Evilness, are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm good, Army Hammer Bro."

Except he wasn't. The stressed Koopa King hadn't even turned around to face the leader of the Hammer Bro squad when he said that. If you were in his shoes, though, you probably couldn't blame him. For all the hours that he had spent working on the speech he was about to give the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom, he was still obsessively trying to iron out the finishing touches. In fact, he forgot his soldier had even spoken to him just one second later.

"This speech just HAS to be perfect. Everyone knows the most important part of being a dictator is to give badass speeches that involve just the right amount of shouting that everybody will blindly listen to them."

Army Hammer Bro nervously scratched his gray, spiky helmet, but yelped and quickly retracted his finger when he reached the spike. "Look, I'm not sure that's 100% correct, but, off topic, off topic. My point is, just ease up a tiny bit, breathe slowly, and….."

"...And do your best," interrupted the Koopa King.

Army Hammer Bro slowly glanced at the floor and chuckled under his breath. "You're stealing all my lines now, sir." He turned around to leave his master alone.

Turns out, in spite everything he and his generals suggested to himself, Bowser just went right back to worrying.

"Oh, no, no, that's not gonna do….. Oh god, where's my eraser?

Ignoring his lord's worries, Army Hammer Bro slowly turned back down the corridor, head down low. He began to briefly wonder if Bowser's current position as the Mushroom Kingdom ruler was starting to cause his lord major stress.

 _Nonsense. He's Bowser, baby! He may look a little troubled, but it's nothing he can't get over! Of course he's fine! Heck, I should be condemned just for thinking that!_

Army Hammer Bro wisely deduced he should leave Bowser alone for the time being, going his merry way back to the main room of the massive lair.

Awaiting him was none other than one of the lord's eight children himself. The tall, lanky child stretched in one of the chairs, nervously scratching his tall, light green pineapple-esque hair. With his free hand, he slowly readjusted his falling glasses, still oblivious to Army Hammer Bro's presence.

"Hey, Iggy."

Bowser's middle child froze abruptly, clearly not expecting to see the black Hammer Bro back so soon. Hastily, he patched his hair into something he deemed close enough to it's normal appearance and shifted into a presentable pose, facing Bowser's empowered general.

"Uh… Welcome back, sir."

"There's no need for formality right now, bro. I just checked on Bowser, and he's still working on the speech."

Iggy rolled his eyes. "Of course he is."

The surprising thing was, most of Bowser's children actually weren't all that thrilled that Bowser had taken over the Mushroom Kingdom. Sure, they loved their dad and all, and were willing to carry out his orders to a degree. Plus, having the Mushroom Kingdom under their belt would provide the whole kingdom with centuries of equipment and weaponary, and offered them the opportunity to expand the Koopa Klan's territory further.

So why am I finding it so hard to find enjoyment in all of this? Iggy wondered to himself, completely oblivious to the conversation.

A few seconds later, Iggy was caught off-guard by a giant, yellow waving object moving back and forth across his face. His eyes widened, and he backed up, screaming "OH GOD, IT'S A YELLOW MONSTER CREATURE!"

"...You know I was just waving my hand, right?"

"Oh." Iggy blushed a heavy shade of red, pulling himself up and chuckling. "I… I definitely knew that." The middle child flashed a cheesy smile, turning around and slowly walking back up to his room.

 _Damn, I really have to stop spacing out all the time…._

* * *

"Yoshi Yoshi! (How much longer, Daddy Mario?)"

"That's-a like the millionth time-a you've asked me that-a, Yoshi-a."

"Yoshi… (..How much longer-)"

"Shut the hell up-a."

It was close to midnight right now, and yet, the Mario Bros, Toad, and Yoshi were still out in the streets, walking towards the house of the famed old wizard Merlon. They had continued walking ever since Mario got the call, which was hours ago. As badly as their feet ached, as tired as they were, that was nothing compared to what would happen should they not reach his place.

Which was, exactly….. Okay, they didn't know yet. They had lots of ideas what, though, and none of them were pleasant. The possibilities bouncing in their head were still enough to keep them going.

To the red-capped Italian, it almost seemed as if coping was no longer possible. He almost felt resigned to the Mushroom Kingdom's current state, it seemed that hopeless.

Almost. Mario took one more long sweeping glance at the Kingdom behind him. It was still his home, such as it was. No matter what, he still had to fight for it until the absolute, definitive end. He had always belived that even the darkest of moments could have a spark hidden in them somewhere.

"Hey Mario-a, you coming or what-a?"

Startled, Mario immediately snapped his head back to the other three. Luigi, Yoshi and Toad had all gone quite a bit ahead, and they had just now noticed Mario hadn't been keeping up with them.

"Yeah, I'll be right there-a."

Slowly, but surely, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom silently trudged back up to the rest of the gang, only partially listening to what they said, a billion or so thoughts running through his head.

What if he failed whatever it was he had to do? What if the kingdom couldn't rely on him like they had for so long before this time?

With a weak scoff, the Nintendo mascot brushed away the intruding thoughts. Impossible! He couldn't fail this one! He was the god damn Mario, for goodness sake! He could just blow through this challenge like he had been doing for so long!

The legend threw both fists in the air, Rocky style, forgetting he was still with all of his friends.

"YO! LET'S-A DO THIS THING!"

Dead. Silence.

"...Who are you talking to-a, bro?"

Mario found himself quickly snapping to attention yet a second time in a two minute timespan, returning to a cruel, unpleasant reality.

"Uh..." It didn't take a very long time for him to realize he couldn't BS his way out of this one.

"Oh! Uh…. yeah…I'm-a totally….. Coming-a…."

* * *

"So, that's your cue. Got it?"

"Yeah… wait, could you run everything you just said by us again?"

"Son of a- do you WANT to defeat Bowser and end his tyranny?"

"W-well, of course-"

"Then you gotta listen when you're spoken to, damnit!"

The speaker paused for a bit, slowly embracing the scared reactions of the other members of their small resistance. That was what he loved most about being the leader of this small group; the power it granted you, the sense of urgency it granted. The success of this revolution would fall near-entirely on his shoulders. The speaker was a somewhat small, yet firm-standing black Toad. His sunglasses glistened in the dim light, perfectly complimenting his subtle, yet confident grin. The Toad, named Maverick, silently stood still, furiously chewing a pack of gum while waiting for the other members of the small resistance to calm down so he could resume speaking. When the volume was adequately low, Maverick picked up right where he left off.

"As all of you know, we formed this resistance earlier today to keep some of the few survivors left all in one place. At present, our numbers are small, but we plan on finding more support in the coming days."

He twirled his shotgun around with his index finger as he tried to remember what he was gonna say next. When he did resume speaking, his words remained as harsh and forceful as they were prior.

"That's not our present plan, however. Right now, our focus is simply to attend Bowser's big speech to get an idea of any future plans he's staging and give us something to work off. It's not much, but it's something-PAY ATTENTION, PENELOPE!"

The Toad Maverick was addressing shot out of her chair with a yelp in shock. She was a young, pink Toad scared out of her wits, having enlisted in this small resistance because she still believed any scenario, no matter how hopeless, could improve. This particular scenario though, had her revisiting her philosophy for the first time. Her eyes now darted back and forth, hoping there was someone else named Penelope he could be addressing.

(Also, there wasn't another toad named Penelope in the resistance)

"Yeah, you over there, with the junk in the trunk!"

The Toad next to Penelope was named Panelope, and she had…. a pretty rockin set of… watermelons. She had also been paying total attention. Unlike Penelope.

"...I was paying attention, sir-"

"Wait….. Oh, dang. Mixed up your names. How about now, I call you Big Boobies and her Sandpaper Chest?" Maverick chuckled under his breath as both Penelope and Panelope rolled their eyes.

"And now, I've given everyone clever nicknames. KING ME!... But yes, I was talking to you, Sandpaper Chest. You were not paying attention when I was delivering my plan, and I do not tolerate that-"

"What could I possibly have missed?" murmured Penelope.

"Everything. Guess who's holding the weapons?"

Judging from the pause, it didn't take Penelope very long to figure out the answer. "Wonderful."

"Hey, it's not all bad. We have plenty of grenades. Just stick two on your chest….. And I won't tell the difference."

Penelope sighed and shook her head, staring glumy at the ground.

* * *

 _Later, at Merlon's house…_

"Took you guys long enough."

The four heroes had long since arrived at Merlon's humble little house.

To most, it was the last place they would ever even consider calling home, but to an old, frayed spirit like Merlon, it was the ultimate bachelor's paradise and then some. The aged, creaking floorboards and the dimmed and barely functioning lighting that occasionally flickered on and off were deemed creepy and major turn-offs to most, but to Merlon, they really made the atmosphere, and it highlighted his mysterious, mystery-shrouded personality.

The old, fabled sage of the Stars lay down low in his rocking chair. He had lived a long life. Even in his weary and fragile state, the resident spellcaster hadn't lost the unmistakable edge in his overall style. With his face remaining hidden behind his large cloak, only his yellow eyes and unnaturally long white mustache showing, he took an extra long sip of his coffee before finally giving the heroes his full attention.

"Hey, man," Luigi questioned. "What-a happened in Flipside-a that caused to to come back-a…. Here."

Merlon seemed to turn into a block of ice upon receiving the question. "Uhh… I…. er…"

He couldn't come up with a polite, respectful way to say "stalking a chef from the first floor who was very open about not being interested. It was all just a misunderstanding, really".

"Err… What happened in Flipside that made YOU come back here?"

"...I live-a here," Luigi replied, confused. "Now, please-a tell me what you said-a you were going to tell us when we arrived-a here….." He briefly paused to cast a glance at the clock. "...10 minutes ago-a."

"...Oh, riiight! Well… do any of you recognize this item?"

The sage rustled down below his desk, throwing trash away in his attempts to find the star fragment. He was quite disorganized, so it took him quite a while. The four heroes cast a glance in unison, wondering if they should have stayed at the casino.

"...Yoshi Yoshi? (Should we go now?)"

"I'm with your dinosaur thing. This blows," murmured Toad in agreement.

"Me third-a," said Luigi. The three of them stood still, waiting for Mario, essentially their de facto leader, to solidify their choice.

Mario himself had been lost in thought for just about the entirety of the conversation. He was still wondering if perhaps their resistance was futile. There was a nagging feeling deep down inside him that everything would end pretty much the same regardless of whatever actions he took.

"So, according to the prophecy of the stars, this is not just any old Power Star fragment. It is part of one of the 7 Star Spirits." Merlon had found the fragment while everyone else was not paying attention.

And just like that, the mustachioed plumber legend's eyes widened immensely. He had once harnessed the might of all 7 of the Star Spirits, and was the only one in his group of 4 who had ever interacted with them, so it naturally took the others a bit of time to realize what Merlon was referring to.

"Yoshi? (Mommy, what the heck is he talking about?)"

The lanky man in green simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "I-a know as much as you-a do, boy."

Meanwhile, Toad hurled a baseball up and down in boredom, his eyes tracking the ball as it went up, and inevitably down, up, and inevitably down. (There was more, but you should get the pattern by now). He addressed the rest without even looking in their direction, still lazily locked onto his baseball.

"Star Spirits? What the hell are you talking about?"

Luigi, Toad and Yoshi continued to be confused. Merlon prepared to interject to explain just who these mystical sages were, but he was beaten to the punch.

"Let me explain, Merlon."

The voice of authority was gentle, and yet firm at the same time. It caused everyone to immediately shut up, all turning to face Mario with their full attention. The plumber stood up on his chair, with a firm, unwavering, stone-cold glare.

"It was a few-a years ago-a…."

Mid-sentence, the plumber paused, head bowed low, intending to milk the suspense. The others paused, looking at him questioningly, waiting for him to continue. However, there was no response for a while. The creaking floorboards were all there was to be heard.

Right when the others prepared to tell him to get on with it already, Mario resumed, not missing a beat.

"I'm-a going to tell the story of Star Spirits-a and good wishes… Far, far away-a, beyond the skies-a-"

"Just a simple description will suffice, Mario. We don't need your life story," replied a very disinterested Merlon.

"...The Star-a Spirits are-a the seven gatekeepers of the Mushroom-a Kingdom. They are in charge-a of the kingdom's well-being and all-a wishes in the Mushroom Kingdom. They reside in the Star Haven-a."

The old sage nodded his head approvingly, shifting his focus to his beer bottle. Popping it in the air, Merlon proceeded with a hearty swig, downing about half of the bottle in a mere 10 seconds.

The others shifted awkward, uneasy glances.

Yoshi, being the young and naive one of the bunch, began to gently stroke some of Merlon's personal items sloppily hanging on his wall, but a quick head-shake in disapproval from Luigi discouraged any further activity. The green dino decided to simply slump his head down on the papers and other unusual objects strewn across the floor.

Deciding enough was enough, Luigi quickly cleared his throat again. Clearly more invested in the bottle than the conversation, Merlon continued chugging. Only after Luigi cleared his throat a second time did Merlon bother to look up.

"What do you want?!" snapped the sage.

Luigi flinched, taken aback by the sudden reaction. "WHAAAAAAAAAH!" screamed the Green Thunder, cowering in fear. The resounding scream echoed through Merlon's place and shattering some of the glass objects. The perpetual Player 2 fell flat on his back.

The others just simply stared at him, sans Merlon, who remembered he still had a bit of work left to do.

"Ohh, yeah, I gotta tell you the deal with the fact that one of the Star Spirit's pieces is on the floor, don't I? Damn it… Well, okay, I'll…. I'll just tell you guys. The Star Spirits are dying."

Mario, who had just now been lifting up his brother from the floor, dropped him right back on the floor, standing, eyes widened. While Merlon had told him over the phone that something bad had happened regarding the star spirits, he was not informed that it was THIS drastic.

"D-d-d-dying?!" Mario sputtered out, stuttering tremendously. Which was very telling, given that he normally spoke with the utmost confidence.

Merlon sighed and looked down, wishing that magically, the answer he would have to give the heroes would change, just like that. But he could have stood there until he became a skeleton, and the answer would not change for squat. Recognizing he could only say one thing in response, the sage simply took a deep breath and made eye contact with all the heroes.

"Yes. Dying. They have reached the end of their lifespan."

Not even crickets could be heard in the resulting silence. Mario, Luigi, and Toad all let that one sink in for a bit. No Star Spirits would mean no order in the Mario-verse as a whole. No Star Spirits would mean no one to….. Wait, Mario just got an idea.

"Hey, don't-a 7 more star spirits-a take their place-a?"

Merlon sighed, and slowly shook his head. "These appear to be the last of their kind. After they're gone, the species will be extinct."

Well, that did it. Luigi fell on the floor, wailing something that sounded like "We're all-a doomed!" in between furious, speech-blocking tears. Similarly, Mario's throat seemed to be all closed up for repairs, judging from his utter lack of words. Even Toad, the least sensitive of all of them, still seemed to be mortified. Out of everything that they thought Merlon could tell them, this was by far the worst out of them.

"I…..Isn't there-a anything we can do-a?" questioned Mario, finally speaking.

"Hey, how should I know? I would guess you go up to Star Heaven-

"Star HAVEN."

"Guess what, bitch? I'M DRUNK AS HELL, AND I DON'T GIVE A DAMN WHAT I'M MISPRONOUNCING!"

Upon that statement, Merlon's eyes instantly turned a violent red. "... Anyways, I'd suggest traveling to the Beanbean Kingdom. There were birds there that transported you places, right?" Merlon smiled, immediately returning to a calm and wise look.

"Errr….. Yeah, there were-a. Sounds like a plan, I guess-a." Mario flipped his head down, to his young dino. "Come on-a. Get up-a."

To ensure Yoshi would awaken, Mario gently nudged him a few times. As per normal, that did the trick. The young green dino groggily awoke, looking up with half-mast eyes, and his attention diverted to a white-ish substance on his tongue that he had tasted right before he fell asleep.

"Yoshi? (I...I don't understand what this is, as many foods as I've eaten. It's white… but it tastes kinda acidic.)"

Merlon quickly looked up, gasping in shock. "W-where did that come from?"

Yoshi pointed to an object on the floor. It was pinkish, and it was full of the aforementioned white stuff. Mario looked up and glared at Merlon, with an unamused look.

Upon seeing where Yoshi got the…. substance from, Merlon burst into a fit of hearty laughter, complete with knee-slapping and snorting throughout. "Ohhhhh! You see, something….. Happened last night….. Involving a girl….. And I…. forgot to clean the mess."

Yoshi furrowed his brow. "Yo-shiiii? (What does that mean, Daddy?)"

The mascot of Nintendo sighed yet again. "It's-a something you're way-a too young to know, and wouldn't want to-a know anyways-a. Come on."

And with that, all four heroes walked out the door, chasing their new objective. Merlon sat in silence, waiting til all four were out of sight. The second the coast was clear, the sage mellowed his expression, then proceeded to turn to his half-finished beer bottle, which had spilled on it's side and was leaking it's contents over the floor akin to one long, beer waterfall.

"Ah, now then, where were we?" pondered Merlon, staring lovingly at his beer bottle, now on the verge of tipping over the table.

"...Oh, right! Let me tie this loose end up, babe, know what I mean?"

With that, Merlon grabbed the bottle, and stared at it intensely. A heart popped up, and with a final mighty swig, began to drown the last of the beer, not taking his lips off the bottle until the last of the liquor was gone. As soon as there wasn't anything left, he threw the empty bottle on the floor with a grunt in frustration.

"Great, now what?"

* * *

 _Much, much later..._

It was time now. Bowser hoped this moment wouldn't come, but it was here. The time of his speech. His speech that he still hadn't really finished. His speech he'd be giving in about 2 minutes.

The crowd was very full too. Surprising in it's own right, to be sure. Nearly everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom was there. Even more surprising, the ruthless Sledge Bros hadn't really needed to force anyone to come to the speech. As much as they hated Bowser's guts, a lot of the Mushroomers were pretty interested in hearing his plans for the Kingdom. Sure, it was a foregone conclusion that they would be put through hell and back, but on that day in particular, Bowser had seemed to them to be pretty chill, and he hadn't ordered anyone killed so far. That alone made them feel so much better, even if the multiple pale white, slowly falling blankets of snow were cold enough to give anyone pneumonia.

The thick, foggy white sky left very little past Peach's Castle visible; only the faint outlines of some of the mountains and trees could be seen beyond the fog; one of which, the Mushroomers noted, seemed to be coming ever so closer…

But that outline was not one of a mountain. Rather, it was the masked silhouette of Bowser's doomship, looming ominously above Peach's Castle. Soon, it was close enough so they could make it out, but it was still mostly blocked off by the fog.

 _Inside the Doomship….._

"Look, Bowser, I'm telling you. This is it. You're giving your speech in two minutes….." Army Hammer Bro paused briefly to glance at his watch. "...ooh, make that one minute. Yikes."

Face-down on his desk, the King of Koopas sighed. He was not typically one to admit it, but Army Hammer Bro was right. He was one of few with the bravery to criticize Bowser's actions, and routinely get away unscathed. As much as Bowser usually wanted to pound his face in, he brought up several good points he couldn't help but consider.

Anyways, he had already told everyone he was giving a speech right there at midnight, and now it was just about time, and he was not exactly prepared with an epic speech.

 _...Maybe I still have enough…_ the Koopa King decided. He took a quick glance at his paper just to determine that.

* * *

Bowser's epic victory speech that will cement his legacy as the King of Awesome further and strike fear into the kingdom and beyond:

* * *

Yeah, that was all he had written down. Discounting part of a porno magazine that he had forgotten to take off the paper, some drool, and a Mountain Dew stain.

 _...Yep, I'm screwed._

"It's time, sir."

With a resounding yelp, Bowser's flew wide open in shock and horror.

"Uhh….." The king decided he had only one option. He waved his arm across his face, Obi-Wan style. "This isn't the koopa you're looking for," Bowser stated in an ominous voice.

Of course, this did nothing to fool Army Hammer Bro.

"Oh, cut the preschool crap, sir. Your grave, you dug it." Army Hammer Bro stood still, arms folded. "No way around it, you're gonna have to jump out now and give what you have."

Bowser buried his head into his arms. "This can't be happening…."

"Oh, it's happening, sweetheart."

"Please, just….. Shut up!"

The leading Hammer Bro merely shrugged. "Well, sir, you can still nail the awesome landing you were talking about making."

Bowser looked at him as if he were speaking Chinese. "W-what awesome landing?"

"Well, I don't see any other doomships coming to drop you down, do you?"

Bowser prepared to rebut that point, but instead, his mouth kept hanging open. "Actually, I never thought about that."

"Of course you didn't. Well, it's like making an awesome landing onto a stage right before giving a speech. Only one way to do it."

"Err… okay. Any other advice?"

"Don't die."

"...Army Hammer Bro, you're a real beacon of sunshine."

* * *

Four of the only people not attending Bowser's meeting were the Mario Bros, Toad, and Yoshi, none of whom were aware of it and none of whom would likely have gone anyways. Their escape from Toad Town was pretty uneventful, all in all.

That didn't really stop Mario from bringing up the rear and silently weighing their odds of success. He tried to look for all the positives, but he really couldn't find any.

"Hey, let's-a take a rest-a by this lake-a, Mario. We'll-a need all our energy-a if we're to take on-a everything ahead of us-a."

"Huh? Oh, yeah-a, that sounds-a… good. Whatever.. you-a... said."

While confused, Luigi decided not to push it, and just went straight to sitting down and taking some sips from the cold, refreshing water. Likewise, Toad followed suit, scooping up several greedy handfuls. This was the first clean, pure water any of them had had access to for days.

Mario was a bit late to the party. He just lay down on his back, staring at the foggy-white sky, not caring for the snow falling all around him. Out of the other three, only Yoshi really took notice. The caring dino slowly walked up to Mario and tapped him a few times on the shoulder, making the latter wince a few times and get up with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yoshi! Yoshi! Yoshiiii! (Sorry! Sorry! Just seeing if you're all right, Daddy!)"

Mario sighed and gave a quick, lazy nod in response, getting back to staring at the bleak, dismal sky.

Even though he just told Yoshi he was fine, he was not sure how true that was. For you see, he had learned a very important lesson that day, one he surely wouldn't forget soon.

He had finally realized attempting to cope was useless. Fate always won.

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


	4. Eternal Vision

_Wow….. So many months have passed since my last chapter… I'm…. I'm so sorry…. I really am. Well, here you go now. I swear, I'll do better in the future._

 _Anyways, here it is, as a happy New Year Eve's present. A bit of backstory for those who don't want to reread the first three chapters. The first three chapters are more of prelude chapters, designed with a very specific goal in mind. Setting up everything. The first chapter is dark and violent, aggressive in its imagery. Symbolizes the takedown period, the moment everything went to hell. The second chapter is themed around the aftermath. Still brutal, but everyone is getting accustomed. The third chapter is the simplest, the chill before the storm, in a sense, which is why it's a bit softer and more comical than the first two chapters. Now that the chill has ended… it is time for the storm._

 _Also, fair warning: This chapter contains **extremely** graphic content, so those with faint hearts, turn the hell away.  
_

 _Now, enjoy yourself. And give out a review, feedback in this stage is more important than ever, because now, Endgame has truly started._

* * *

 **Summary:** Bowser's speech commences, and his plan for the kingdom going forward is unveiled.

* * *

 _Backstage._

"You're such a great ruler."

Sarcasm dripped from Bowser's voice. He sat still, listening to it echo across the backstage area. its not like his odds of giving a great speech were astronomically high in the first place, but even he couldn't have anticipated it would go this badly.

He clamped his hand on the table with such force that it created a crack on the top. His other hand promptly went to work, massaging his now aching head. Just now, it started aching.

Bowser took a deep breath. For a full fifteen seconds, he inhaled as much air as he could. Why? He didn't know. He just felt like it. When his throat began aching, as if to say "No more!", he let it all out in a heavy, violent stream of flame, after which his head hung low like a worm on a hook. The fire coiled in midair, scorching the mirror further in an impressive display that created a blinding flash; if Bowser had felt like looking into it, he would have seen his new reflection, the personification of his feelings. His face, covered with all-encompassing flames.

Pain had a face, after all.

He didn't want to admit it... but he kinda needed help. There comes a time in everyone's life where he had to just swallow his pride. And unless he wanted to sit in silence all day long, now was that time. Time to call the person who would help him the most...

And since he didn't have that, he had to settle for what he got. He sighed and entered speed dial.

"Hello?"

"Hey, uh, Army Hammer Bro?... Yeah, its me, your badass, sexy, and altogether amazing ruler."

"So I've heard….." Army Hammer Bro gently sighed, knowing his lord. "Wow, that speech was surprisingly... fast."

"Well... yeah..." Bowser did a weak chuckle to try and inspire confidence. "I aced it."

"Really." Army Hammer Bro popped another cheese curl in his mouth from the chair of the control room of Bowser's doomship.

"...Yeah-absolutely," Bowser spluttered.

An ensuing silence occurred. Bowser couldn't see it, but Army Hammer Bro had that trademark grimace expressing massive doubt. "Look, Bowser..." He sighed and shook his head. "I have a live feed of the event right now. All your officials do. You forgot?"

Bowser muttered a quick 'damn it' under his breath. It was no use denying it. "My speech… isn't going so hot... How much did you see?" Bowser closed his eyes and began crossing the fingers on his free left hand.

"..All of it. Duh," said Army Hammer Bro.

Bowser drooped his head down low. "Great. I'm a laughingstock." He held his head low and let out a heavy sigh. He kept it down for about three more seconds until his soldier got the hint.

"Oh... yeah, you're doing that thing. I know, you want me to tell you 'You're wrong, buddy!' But that would be misleading. You won't solve your problems by ignoring them and making your loved ones instill a false sense of comfort into you. You see Bowser, you're… okay, I could put this gently but…" Army Hammer bro snickered under his breath. "...We both know that I'm relishing this."

"...Are you gonna rub it in for long?" Bowser said flatly.

"...Ehh, honestly, I WOULD… but, you know, my paycheck and stuff."

"Wise move." Sarcasm was dripping from Bowser's voice. "Look, you wisecracking bastard, I'm… kinda….. Okay, I'm sucking. There, I said it. I'll give you anything in return if you help me get out of this jam!"

"...Okay, I'd like to be set free."

"Well….. Anything except that."

Dead pause. Army Hammer Bro put down his cell phone, and flipped his chair around, doing….. Who knows what. Either way, it took Bowser 5 seconds to get the idea.

"...Fuck you, man. Okay, I'll do it. Now, what do I have to do?"

"Well!..." Army Hammer Bro flipped his phone up in the air with one hand, scratching his chin with the other. The phone flipped around multiple times, before careening downwards in a rushing "woosh!" noise. With the grace of a seasoned professional, Army Hammer Bro reached out, and hand made contact with silver in the most streamlined and beautiful of ways.

….In simple terms, he caught the phone effortlessly, without even looking, like a badass.

"Yes!" Army Hammer Bro shouted. He pumped his fist and hollered in victory. "WOOOOH! IN YOUR FACE, SHELLY, YOU BASTARD!"

"..."

"...Oh, yeah, you didn't turn on screencam. Well, I flipped my phone up, see? Then I caught it with my hand. Without looking. Why?" The elite Hammer Bro shrugged. "Because I can. I don't know what that has to do with your speech…. But y'know, I did it, and that's what counts."

Dead silence.

"...Look, I know that's not very relevant to your current predicament. I'm just…. Feeling lonely. I've... never had anybody tell me 'Holy crap, you can flip a phone and catch it? You da man!' Can you tell me I'm cool? Pleeeeeaseee?"

"Hmmm…. well... I could... but... uh... false sense of comfort."

"Okay... excuse me." Army Hammer Bro turned away from the phone and covered the lid. Bowser could still make out some soft sniffing. He pretended not to notice.

"...Hey, pal.. I... know what to do now."

"...Wait..." Army returned focus back to Bowser. "You do?"

"Absolutely. Y'know, you MIGHT-note the strong emphasis on the MIGHT-"

"Noted..."

"Good. You MIGHT get that raise you're always bitching about!"

"...Wait, really? Y-You can't be-"

"...What? No. Of course not. Don't be stupid." Bowser continued to chuckle, holding up his hand to his mouth in an attempt to cover up his crude sputtering. It was in vain.

Finally, he regained his composure, and after a few more deep breaths to fully recover, he resumed. "Anyways, I realized I just have to wing it, just like you did with that cell phone flip thing."

"...I helped you? I mean, doy. What do you think I'm here for?"

"I'm back onstage in a minute. Smell you later."

And it was right about now something happened that would completely change the course of the entire day and even what would come afterward.

It wasn't obvious at first. Something came up. The Koopa King was clearly taken aback by something, stopping mid-sentence. It was so shocking, he was actually at a complete loss for words.

"Uh…. sir?"

"...Yeah…. Uhhh…. I'm going to call you back. See you, hopefully never. Kidding. Maybe. Hi. I mean, bye."

Before Army Hammer Bro could object, Bowser hung up.

"W... what…. The… hell…" Bowser could barely be heard. Still in disbelief, he shook his head over and over. Whatever had just happened, it was clearly a lot to take in. He took a bit more time to process it.

His head whipped over to a knife on his desk. His eyes narrowed. He forced himself off the chair he was sitting in and lumbered over to the knife. His every footstep left another fresh crater in the ground underneath him. Not that it mattered to Bowser. He glanced some more at the knife. He froze again.

 _Should I?_

Wow. He was actually starting to sweat. Just a little. But still. He had no idea what to do, no idea if he was senile, no idea if it was worth investing into. There wasn't much sweat at all, just 2 drops, but not much made Bowser sweat in the first place.

He felt nauseous. His head hurt. He wished he could take a nice, long rest to clear his head. Could you blame him? After all, it's not as if deciding between stabbing yourself with a knife or not stabbing yourself with a knife would be a situation most people would ever imagine themselves being in.

In a perfect dream scenario, time would have slowed down for Bowser to make his decision. Since no such thing exists, though, time was about to run out, and he needed to make a split second choice. He wished he could chase after time itself and knock it out so he could comprehend the sheer magnitude of the turmoil that was occurring, but no such luck.

Finally, he made his decision. With a heavy sigh, he reached for the knife, and slowly, steadily, raised it up to his chest. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. If he was correct, this move was going to go down as one of the most genius moves made in ruling history.

But if it wasn't…. Let's just say it would be remembered as a much less genius move. Bowser lay conflicted. Finally, he made his mind.

"Don't talk about it. Be about it."

Before he could change his mind, he twisted the jagged blade into his chest. The cut wasn't deep enough to reach his heart, and as long as he was careful, it would (hopefully) stay that way.

The king flinched and jerked back; a trickle of blood began to run down from the stab wound, trickling like a snake. After a few deep breaths, he regained his composure. He moved the knife upwards. A sickening crunch was audible, and with a twist of the blade, a geyser of blood splashed onto the previously diamond-clear mirror, messily sliding down in a disgusting red puddle. Bowser paid no mind. Even as the blood sprayed in multiple directions and began trickling down from the wound even more rapidly, Bowser continued to make the cut. Stepping back to get out of the puddle of his red body liquid that was rapidly forming on the ground, Bowser continued to cut until he had made a small circle around his chest scar.

With a painful rip, Bowser clutched onto the part of his skin he just cut off and held the gruesome artifact of his efforts into his hand. He groaned in pain; the skin fragment he was holding was staining his hands dark red, blood dripping below and soaking the floor. The floor in particular looked as though it had gotten a fresh new coat of paint. The one known as death.

"Okay….. Ah!" Bowser's eyes cycled around the room, he let out a gurgled moan that sounded akin to vomiting blood. Not just akin; he actually coughed up a wad of blood that splattered on his chin and neck, slithering down slowly like a disgusting, slimy snake.

 _Fuck._ That was about the only thought in his head. This interesting new development left him feeling a whole lot of things, but mostly dizzy, lightheaded and drained. He ignored the throbbing pain in his head and focused on rapid, steady breaths.

 _Just take a step… …Or not. SHIT, that hurts._ Every time the king tried to take a step, he began seeing double. His vision blurred; he put his hand on his head and used his other arm to rest on the table.

"Better hurry up…." Quickly, he jammed his travel notebook into the gaping hole in his stomach, ignoring the painful creaking sounds as he aligned it properly… just in the right position in front of his still beating heart.

Not a moment too soon. Bowser turned to look at himself in the mirror. He still looked kinda like a wreck. Blood stains were everywhere on his body. The leftover residue continued to cling to his body like a soggy tuna-wrap sandwich. The clump of skin itself felt disgusting, like a wet piece of raw meat at the butcher shop.

"...This could possibly be the dumbest thing I've ever done in my life."

Without warning, Bowser violently coughed up a second wad of blood. He lurched forwards in sync with the cough, the blood splattering over the beaten and charred mirror. Well, the only thing he was gonna be admiring was a massive blood stain.

"...Gross…"

Surprisingly, the physical pain, while certainly immense, was not quite the center of Bowser's thoughts.

"… Actually… What was I trying to do again-ohhh, yeahhh, that. Now that I've laid my cards on the deck... let's see if I got a full house."

Indeed, Bowser's entire future was set in motion now, good or bad. A do or die in its fullest effect, if you will.

And without an extra word, the Koopa King ambled back onstage to give his speech, throbbing in pain with every step.

* * *

 _Back onstage…_

Bowser's break had gone a little over the maximum time he was permitted. About 6 more, in fact. The bored Kingdom residents were starting to tire of waiting; 11 minutes, while not very long on its own, starts to seem pretty long when much of it is spent just waiting around. Shame too, for the event was a full house. Mostly. Some ambulances were present in the corner, taking away the small handful of Toads that were suffering from pneumonia from the increasingly chilling temperatures. Most were sensible, though, and brought some hot chocolate and put on extra snow protection.

"Maybe he'll be back soon…"

"Nope, he bailed. That bastard up and left, mark my words."

"...Are you sure-Wait, don't answer that. I want to believe!...Wait...what is-"

A loud RIP made everyone pause mid-sentence and glance at the stage. With a heavy slash, Bowser had ripped straight through the curtain. He waltzed onstage, waving to the crowd and grabbing the mic. It was even colder out now than it was when he was first onstage, but it didn't seem to be bothering him. He stepped around the large crater that had formed in a rather... embarrassing incident about eleven minutes back.

The audience had noticed the…. Very questionable scar on his chest. A Goomba hopped up three times.

"Yes, you in the front. Hurry up."

"What's with that scar-"

"None of your damn business, pal." Bowser made it sound a lot like "I can kill you in one fell sweep, pal." The Goomba leaned back into his snow-soaked chair.

"You all look surprised, for some reason." He chuckled. "Yeah, I've been told I have that effect on people…"

"Get your ass offstage!" yelled a loud, annoying heckler.

Bowser's smile instantly flipped upside down. His eyes swiveled towards the heckler. This guy had been a pain in his ass since this speech had started, and enough was enough. He leaned back, stepped towards the Toad, and flashed an eerie, haunting smile that was somehow scarier than his constant yelling. Indeed, there's nothing quite like staring at a mouthful of razor sharp teeth to get one to fear ya, and the heckler was visibly hesitating to make his move.

"GO, BOWSER! YOU'RE THE BEST! WOO-HOO! I LOVE YOU!"

Bowser turned around. There was a pink Toad holding up a sign that said "BOWSER 4EVA!" He was waving it around and making his support clear with all the noise his little lungs could make, even as a bunch of people were giving him murderous glances and shaking their heads.

The Koopa King eased up. His smile began to return. It was heartwarming to know he had his supporters even in the bleakest of times. This was by far one of the sweetest displays of affection he had received.

 _You know what? I'm BOWSER, baby! Why do I give half a horse crap what any of the Toads think of my rulership? I am the one calling the shots from now on! Not THEM._

And with that, he remembered: just wing it. A real ruler doesn't TELL people what he means, he shows them little shits. Already, a vicious smile was beginning to curl at his lips.

He walked over to the Toad.

"Yes, fan, I love you too." Bowser smiled warmly. The smile morphed into a cold, empty stare. He whipped out a pistol, cocked it back and pointed it at his fan's head. His fan's eyes drooped, and before he could get off a quick "but why?", Bowser pulled the trigger. The resulting gunshot noise cracked throughout the area, a noise so loud and forceful that it made all the other people currently attending bend down low, wincing and covering their ears in anguish. A simultaneous scream echoed throughout the club from some of the kids in attendance.

Eventually, the smoke cleared. As the Mushroom Kingdom residents dared to look back up, they saw perhaps one of the most chilling sights they would ever be subject to.

Their mortal enemy, the target of their collective wrath, confidently turned to them, taking such a slow time doing it that the witnesses swore he did it on purpose. His face was red with the Toad's blood. It seemed to go perfectly, too perfectly, with his vicious slasher smile. He didn't look much like Bowser anymore. He was their worst nightmare, the dark side of the moon, the supernova at the end of the universe, the knife of the butcher. Even by his standards, this was a particularly heartless move. It was a tough decision to make; even Bowser had his reservations about doing something this vile, this heartless, but decided the only way he was going to nail this was by making the difficult decisions and putting his feelings on a cruise for the night.

One thing was for certain; he had their attention, and he was going to make the most of it.

"I know what you're all thinking; THAT WAS HEARTLESS, HOW COULD YOU?" Bowser said in a mock crying voice, pretending to wipe his eyes.

"Quick answer: Yes, that was heartless. But I ask you all this-What is "heart", anyway? That worthless feeling of remorse, that worthless thing some call love? It is just a liability, in the end, one that will surely be your undoing."

He gripped the mic with both hands and leaned over the stage. "I look at all you little sons of bitches, and answer me this-what is it that I see? What story do you tell?"

Out of everything they expected him to say, that was far from the first thing to come to mind. Either way, the Toads and the rest of Bowser's minions all fully shifted gears to the king.

 _Good, good. The fishes have been drawn into my nice, juicy worms…. Now here comes the hook._

"Don't give me those looks! You look at any random dumbass in the street, they all have one thing in common. If you look for it, you can find a story in anybody. Most of them aren't anything special. I guarantee you, about a solid 95% of people are unremarkable. But that other 5 %? They are what's known as legends. Most people don't become legends. They work to become legends Like me. That status wasn't spoonfed to me at birth. Hell, I wasn't even supposed to be the ruler of the Koopa Klan. Nobody expected shit from me. It was all about my big brother Wart. That smug piece of shit thought he was so great, got ALL the attention, ALL the respect, ALL the bitches. But I had one thing he never had. I had a spirit. I had a sharp, cunning mind. One day, while he was gettin' it on..."

Bowser made a few graphic humping motions.

"With MY girlfriend, no less!-I turned that dick into a frog, broke his legs, and cast a spell on him, essentially destroying his career. You know where he is now?"

Silence.

"Exactly. So, like I said, you don't come out of the goalpost a star. You may THINK you'll become big, you may THINK you've put in adequate effort, but simply trying is not enough. There is no try, there is only do. You can try to become big, but unless you're willing to break your back, sacrifice everything you think you know about the world, it will NOT work. Albert Einstein, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Aristotle, Da Vinci, Pewdipie, and yes, even Mario-they're all stars now. But none of them started stars... except Mario (Ugh). As they say, if you're all talk and no game, you've got no business trying to ball with the big boys. Don't try and stay a loser, put in the effort to become good, push yourself further and become moderately popular... or push yourself beyond your breaking point and become... THAT ELUSIVE 5%. The choice is yours to make, and you can only make it once. You can't afford to waste time, because if you realize you're on the wrong track, its already too late."

Meanwhile, in the row at the very back sat two very conspicuous individuals, one male, one female. Unlike everybody else in their row, they were paying little attention to the speech. These guys tried the old "put newspaper in front of face routine", but the female dropped her paper on the floor a while back.

One of them was a black-spotted Toad with glasses with a nametag reading "Maverick". The other was perpetual underachiever Penelope. They were the only two members of the resistance currently present. Too many would look conspicuous. At least, that's what Maverick said.

They had... shall we say, _persuaded_ security, to get to the speech just mere minutes after Maverick detailed his plan. Maverick kept an eagle's eye out the whole time. Penelope, meanwhile, had been resting for the past 11 or so minutes. Finally, after so much waiting, Bowser was wide open. Maverick questioned the... very questionable scar on Bowser's chest but paid little mind to it. He had a self-appointed mission.

He nudged Penelope twice with his elbow. The latter blinked twice, yawned, and groggily turned to her leader.

"...Yuh?" she muttered.

"...You okay?" Maverick asked. "Not that I care, though."

"...Lit."

"Yeah." Maverick smirked and turned around. He may not have questioned her bizarre speech pattern, but this was a very far cry from her normally sensible nature.

"Anyways-" Maverick nudged her again, as she was starting to nod off. "its time. Maverick may not be a household name yet, much as I hate to admit it, but as soon as this fatass turtle falls, I'm going to explode. Bitches will get DRIPPIN' wet when they hear my name. You just see."

"...wet... drippy... hot." Penelope grinned and nodded back off.

"Somehow, I'm starting to feel like you're a little high."

"...huh...n...o sir..." Penelope subconsciously shook her head. That was a straight lie, though. Stressed out of her mind, she knew that she was never gonna last this mission without breaking down. She knew Maverick was never gonna actually give her any job of significance, so she had resorted to her age-old tactic of smoking a little weed before going on this duo mission, just to keep her mind off everything that was going wrong. Of course, Maverick was never going to figure it out on his own, even if that combined with her still being really tired made her act so questionably out of character, she still wanted to keep that secret as private as she could.

"Kidding. LOL! You're too boring to get high. Take five, and maybe, just maybe, I'll include you in my autobiography when I become famous. This one's all about me."

"...Really."

"Yeah, bruh." Maverick shrugged. "You could get a nice little… say, two sentences. I'm thinking…. Somewhere in between the part where I flexed over the Grand Canyon and describe the size of my muscles, I could describe the time I docked your pay for doubting me on the mission that will inevitably earn me serious bank. Somethin' like that, y'know?"

"...Cool beans."

Maverick stopped listening. He had found his target. With a cock and a flip, Maverick fired his bullet. As loud and brash as Maverick was, there was one thing he knew how to do, and one thing he knew how to do well; aim a gun. His marksman skills were second to none. He wasn't top marksman in his high school for nothing. Once he found a target, he knew how to aim and where to shoot to ensure he'd get the most out of his shots. Normally, he would have thought to aim somewhere else, like the stomach, but he wasn't about to hear another word come out of Bowser's mouth, so he aimed his weapon straight at the heart to get it over with. Unfortunately, he didn't have a large caliber round, due to just having a Desert Eagle at the moment.

The image everyone was about to witness, would stick with them for the rest of their lives. The bullet sailed, a deadly creature in the air, attempting to make its mark firmly in the Koopa King's chest. It made immediate contact; it hit like a boulder, staggering Bowser. A vibrating crack echoed throughout the club as the bullet struck the book in the King's chest.

The image everyone was about to witness, would stick with them for the rest of their lives. The bullet sailed, a deadly creature in the air, attempting to make its mark firmly in the Koopa King's chest. It made immediate contact. It hit like a boulder, staggering Bowser. A vibrating crack echoed throughout the club as the bullet struck the book in the King's chest.

The people who looked up saw Bowser hit his knee. Oddly, instead of bleeding out, he just had to hold on to a support pillar to keep from falling. When he was able to maintain his footing, he put his hand over his chest and glanced down for damages. He was disoriented, it felt like the air had been knocked out of his body, and bleeding slightly, but he had nothing worse than that. The book wasn't ever gonna entirely stop the bullet; it doesn't work like that, but it was so thick that it did slow it down enough to be a wound. Just not a fatal one.

"You were the problem," said Maverick. "And I… was the solution."

Maverick tipped his snow-covered shades down in tandem with the pun.

"Hey sir?" said another Toad sitting next to him.

"Yeah?" Maverick flexed in a strongman pose. "Make it quick."

"This is gonna kill you, but…"

Maverick's eyebrow arched. "But what?"

"...He seems pretty healthy to me."

Pause. Maverick took a quick glance up at Bowser.

"I….I'm sorry, what? ...WHAT?"

Maverick continued sputtering, trying to comprehend what just happened. Mouth agape, he couldn't pry his eyes away from the leader of the Mushroom Kingdom.

He nodded. As if to say, Yes, this is real.

"I spent WEEKS coming up with that pun! And… you….. Son of a- Stay dead so that it wasn't wasted! THAT. IS. AN. ORDER."

People were murmuring and talking over each other. Spitting out a variety of explanations.

"God."

"More like Satan."

"Jesus."

"Dream."

"This is a stage play."

As amusing as it was to see them cower, the speech had to go on, and Bowser wasn't gonna wait for anybody.

"Nice try."

Everybody looked up. Bowser nodded gently towards the still very bitter Maverick, then shifted his gaze back to the general audience.

"Really, nice try."

He waited a few more seconds until all the silence completely died down. When everyone settled down, only then did he resume his speech.

"You all be lookin' at me, yes? You all out here, wondering "Who the hell is this guy? This handsome, muscular badass, who just eats up bullets for fun? You thought it would be that easy? You think I'd just go "AAAAH, FUCK, IM DEAD?" Bowser made a gag face and held up his arm and began to fake strangle himself, bringing a few nervous chuckles.

Maverick's eyes shifted back and forth. "Well….." He smacked his lips. "Yes. I did."

Bowser laughed evilly. "Well, I can feel your question coming up right now. I'll save y'all the trouble of asking."

The room fell silent again. Bowser placed his hand on the piece of skin he had cut out not even an hour ago and lifted it in the air, exposing the book in his chest for everyone to see. It took some people longer than others to put the pieces together, but eventually, a collective gasp echoed throughout the club.

The Goombas, the Koopas, and all the other loyal minions of Bowser screamed up something fierce, chants of "That's our Bowser!" and "Nice one!" commonplace. The king couldn't help but be flattered, even as the snow all around them seemed to be getting colder.

"I appreciate it." He paused, chortling heartily. "Really, I do. Now, a few moments ago, I got an omen. An omen of this same exact scenario, right down to every last detail."

The audience began to give him weird looks.

"...Yes, you think I'm crazy. You know what I could have done? I could have gone back home like a spineless coward. I could have. But you know what I did instead? I made a solution for myself. That's what. I cut open my skin and added some extra protection to ensure my safety. I was thinking for a while, 'Ohhhh noooo, maybe this omen is fake, I shouldn't be doing this...' But I stuck to my work ethic, and now, you all have seen how far a little risk, bravery and motivation-two skills you weak, spineless losers will NEVER have- can take you. This right here, is one quality of a good leader-he has to be good at making heat of the moment decisions."

"Son of a- This is horseshit!"

Bowser laughed. "No, it's the pathetic inhabitants of this Kingdom learning discipline and seeing REAL bravery for a change. You all jive about your savior Mario and all the BRAVERY he has. But I betcha, if he was in MY kicks, he wouldn't have thought much of it. Probably figures he's too much of a badass to possibly die in such an embarrassing fashion and go down in flames. Well, guess what? Right about now, he'd be six feet under."

Nobody could argue with that.

"You know, he's making a good talk."

"Yeah, where the hell IS Mario?"

This should have made Maverick quit while he was still ahead. Instead, he kicked his feet back and flashed a casual smile at Bowser.

"Mario ain't here, because he called, and he said he was giving his role of defender of the kingdom…. To me! Yeah, I'm your new defender!"

Bowser arched an eyebrow. "Really."

"Damn straight," said Maverick, oblivious to how obvious that pathological lie was. "The series about to be called Super Maverick Bros up in this biatch! Super Maverick Odyssey, let's-a go!" Maverick tipped his black shades.

"Oh no, I'm scared." Bowser nonchalantly leaned against the support pillar, very annoyed that Maverick broke the serious flow of this event. "Do your worst." He made a "come here" motion with his free hand.

"You asked nicely…. And I'll deliver."

Maverick snapped his fingers. "Team Insert Cool pun here later, ATTACK!"

Imagine this entire next scene in slow motion. A giant squadron of Toad warriors hopped out, loaded to the brim with weapons of all types, ranging from Glocks, to shotguns, to handguns, to swiss army knives, beam swords, Double Cherries, Fire Flowers, etc. From seemingly every area that could conceivably hide somebody, there was a Toad there. The Toads with the handguns wasted absolutely no time whatsoever firing their weapons at Bowser.

And yet, Bowser's smile grew wider and wider. _Yes, Yes, YES! Now we're talking!_

"Challenge accepted."

That was all the incentive the rest of the Toads needed. They leaped towards the king, rage and determination burning in their hearts.

This would normally result in one very dead king. Unfortunately, Bowser was not your normal king.

The bullets approached, yet he was at total ease. At the very last possible second, he stepped to the side, letting the first bullet pass by. Not even a second later, he jerked his head back, dodging the second bullet so narrowly he SWORE he felt its energy emitting on his face. He still had no time to stop. With a grunt in effort, he used his two feet to propel himself skyward with one of the most impressive backflips he'd ever done in his life, earning yet another gasp from the audience.

He frowned. There were still more bullets left to deal with. No problem. Doing a split second calculation in his head, Bowser slashed forwards in a full moon arc, _while still in midair_ , instantly slicing all the bullets into two pieces like there was nothing to it. Before the remnants of the bullets even hit the ground, Bowser managed to impress further. With a sudden out of nowhere horizontal boost, he expertly used his momentum to perform even more slashes. He moved his arms so fast, they seemed a blur. Countless slashes rendered the bullets null and void.

"No way," gasped an awestruck audience member.

Finishing with a final slash preformed so quickly it left an afterimage, Bowser still hung in the air. He looked down at the awestruck Maverick. Bowser pointed two fingers at his eye, then flipped them back at Maverick. Gravity took place again. No bother. Bowser winded up his fist like a clock. After three rotations, he unleashed a powerful punch... on the ground, creating another crater with an anime-esque sound effect.

The jaws of everyone else had long since dropped on the floor. This was straight up unreal. Bowser stepped up to the mic again,waiting for the next blow with his trademark arrogant smirk.

It didn't come. The soldiers were too busy twitching.

"Got any more in the tank? I've got all day."

The army members looked at each other. They nodded in unison. The looks on their face made their response perfectly clear.

"CHARRRRRRRGGGGGGGEEEEE!"

All hell broke loose. The first of the warriors quickly consumed his Double Cherry. An exactly identical copy of him appeared next to him, and both of them leaped onto the back of a chair and used it to propel themselves towards the king.

Bowser smirked. He put both his legs back, and let them come to him. The Toad and his copy alternated positions in an attempt to confuse their ruler. He wasn't fazed, though. Leaning his head back, he opened his jaw, took a deep breath, and treated the two to a pretty sight of fire developing in his maw.

"Oh, shi-"

That was all they got out before Bowser spit his stream in a fiery, arching crescent, nailing both of them. The clone dissipated instantly, but the original Toad wasn't so lucky. Before he could even think of defending himself, the flame had already consumed his body.

It felt like hell. The pain was unbearable. His skin slowly peeled off and the morbid, smoky, barbeque-esque smell of burning flesh invaded his nostrils. The pain didn't last long, though. By the time it had reached the inside of the body, the life had already vanished. His eyes melted into the recesses of his skull as the rest of his skin was reduced to a thick, gooey, semi-solid reddish substance as it mixed with the blood and slid down his bones.

"You see that? THAT is what being a ruler is really all about-"

Bowser arched his head back to dodge an incoming sword slice. Before the aggressor even recovered, he thrust his claw straight into his throat and out the other side. The samurai tasted the blood gushing out of his mouth. He tried to breathe, only a sickened gargle came out. He tried to pry Bowser's meaty hands off him, but being at least a few hundred pounds lighter, it was no use. With a grin that can only be described as sadistic, Bowser lifted his claw higher, separating the samurai's neck from his shoulders. The Toad felt all the air leave. Ignoring the fountain of blood splashing into his face, spilling over his body, Bowser moved his claw higher and higher, and without hesitation, decapitated the poor soul. The samurai's lifeless head flew several feet, flinging blood over the assembly like a firehose. It fell into the hands of a girl in the audience. The panic-stricken shroom took one look at the soldier's glazed, lifeless eyes and her hands, wet with the man's dripping blood, and fainted on the spot.

The king took a second to wipe the blood and snow out of his eyes. He flicked his wrist backward through another Toad's skull. Death was instantaneous. Bowser pulled his claw out. His hand was covered in a moist, disgusting glob of the man's brain matter and skull fragments that made even him grimace a little. His face…. Not even a face anymore. Mostly just splintered bone and blood around the claw-shaped imprint.

"As I was saying, it's not about how awesome you, look-"

Whoops. Yet another interruption. Bowser grabbed another soldier by the leg and slammed him against the floor. Every bone in his upper body shattered. He pressed one foot on the floor and the other on the Mushroom warrior's head. Squished it open like a watermelon with a most horrible sound. The king placed both hands on his right leg. Using his right foot as leverage, Bowser flicked his arms upwards. In no time, the sound of bones cracking, joints separating was audible as he ripped the soldier's entire leg clean off. Now entirely numb to the fact that the leg was spilling yet more blood (by this point, there was hardly any brown left on the stage), Bowser used his newfound weapon to fend off another Toad. He spun it in a circle with the grace of a skilled fencer.

The Toad instinctively leaned backwards. Big mistake. The blood from the severed leg flew into his face. Quite literally, he saw red. The acidic, metallic taste was unbearable; the pained soldier felt bile churning up in his throat. He didn't have time to be sick.

He never got to see the oversized hand that bisected him, and threw both his severed halves off the stage.

The crowd was in a frenzy now. Toads everywhere were shuddering, screaming, crying. This was the Underworld personified. The worst part; The King was so nonchalant... about everything. Merciless bloodshed. Screams of a hope. Slain. All his daily sip of coffee. He ate it up. Their eternal panic, their fleeting life. All second hand to him. Disposable like a toddler's broken toys.

"Anyways, its not about any of that!" Bowser continued, sensing a lull in soldier activity. "People always say being a leader is about how nice or caring you are, but you know what I call that? Bull. So, what REALLY makes a leader?"

Yet another foolish Toad tried her luck. She leapt from the ceiling, hurling iceballs left and right. All of them were rendered null and void by the Koopa King's shell. She tried again. Bowser gripped her.

She tried to scream. Her throat shut down.

Bowser drove his claw through her chest.

The pain? Indescribable. Bowser removed his claw from her chest.

She finally opened her mouth, just to let the blood rushing up flood over her chin and onto the gaping hole in her chest. White overtook her vision despite her best efforts, and she joined her other slain comrades in the sky above.

"Here's your answer. its how well you can deal with the crap life throws at you. its a dog-eat dog world out there, so you're always going to suffer, unless you grow a sack-"

This time, a Toad wielding a Goomba's Shoe leapt down from the stage lights. He looked oddly calm. He signed up for this. This was his duty. He knew he was not going to make it. He continued anyhow.

Monotonously, Bowser held up his hand. The shoe gently plopped in his palm. Taking a sweeping glance to ensure everyone was watching, Bowser lifted up the shoe until the head of the rider was firmly inside his maw. The Goomba Shoe bounced off the ground a few times, finally landing on the leg of another soldier, crushing it into oblivion. The second soldier tried crawling over to the street, blood gushing through his leg and soaking the floor. Fear clouded his fading, increasingly dissipating mind; in spite him putting every ounce of energy, every ounce of emotion, all the desire to rejoin, to protect his loved ones into his desperate struggle, it was a wasted effort, and he knew it.

Bowser opted not to speed up his death and leave his final moments to be as painful as possible. He was sanitaton's problem now. He returned to the first of the soldiers.

The Toad closed his eyes in preparation. _At least I can die saying I gave it my everything..._ A happy tear dripped from his eye.

It was good he came to terms with his demise, because there is perhaps no worse way to go out than what he received. To the horror of everyone, Bowser clamped down without a moment's hesitation, ignoring the blood soaking his teeth... and began to chew it like gum.

Nobody could watch; even as near everyone turned away, the sound of Bowser's jaws crushing the man's head into something unrecognizable was still plenty enough to tell the story.

It went on for 30 seconds, but it felt more like a thousand minutes. Bowser decided he had enough of brain juice. He had never really been one for explicit cannibalism. He turned away from the audience and casually spit out the remnants of the head, sparing them a scarring visual.

He muttered something under his breath and slowly turned back to everyone left. His mouth and chin were soaked with red, and a piece of flesh that clung to his lip. For that matter, most of his body was red mixed with melted snow water, in spite of him not having taken any damage at all. In spite of feeling cold and uncomfortable, He continued, not missing a beat.

"Failure is a natural part of life, but whether that puts you down or not depends on how well you can rebound off even your most disheartening failures. Don't let your fears put you down. Fear is a natural part of life, and you can never be truly fearless if you don't have any fears to overcome. There is no bravery without fear."

They were actually taking it in, nods and murmurs aplenty.

"You take your fears, and you stomp on them and use them to boost you even higher. You see a door in your path, break it down. You break your leg, drag yourself home. You only lose the battle when you decide you're done…"

Bowser took yet another break to leap over an attacker. He landed on him ass first with his signature Bowser Bomb, crushing him into paste. Yuck. At least this one was rather quick. He looked around. Already, there were only a few soldiers left. Good. Now he could make the speech his top priority. And belive me, he was just getting warmed up.

"...And from what I've seen today, I'm disappointed in the lot of you. Yes, I'm bigger than any of you. Stronger, more ruthless, just all around better. But you ever hear of this badass named David? He didn't let that discourage him when he took on… what's his name? Ah, yeah-Goliath. He didn't dwell on his massive disadvantages, nor did he rush in willy-nilly. He came up with a plan to overcome his massive physical inferiority, and he stuck with it, and he didn't back down-"

He put his hand up. One Toad had taken this time to fire his last bullet at him. Instead of prematurely ending the ceremony, the bullet bounced harmlessly off Bowser's spiked arm collar. The Toad had no time to process it before the bullet returned straight to the sender. It ripped through his head, splattering blood over the curtain. Thankfully, it blended in well with the redness of the curtain. Bowser waited for the corpse to buckle before continuing.

"The novice who just died exemplifies the problem with you lot- you have NO DRIVE. NOT AN OUNCE OF IT. You fight like naive children. You think that just because you want something to happen, it will happen. You WANT change, you want to kill me, you want to end the blood feud our kingdoms have gotten, but you don't have the BALLS to do it. You just passively sit back pray, or try ham-fisted, pitiful attempts to end me that never work out. Mario stops me all the time, but he never once dreamed of killing me."

Bowser's eyes shifted to the sides of the stage. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed five remaining Toads in camouflage. All of them locked eyes with Bowser.

He did not return their gaze. Rage boiled in him like a gnashing monster. They though THIS was enough to stop him? Were they not listening to anything he had been saying? What a joke.

"Sheep."

They paid no mind. In their adrenaline rush, all five of them leapt onto Bowser, brandishing differing weapons. No doubt the strongest ones they had available. Just an assumption; Bowser had no idea what they were using, he didn't really pay any mind to their weapons, not that it made any difference.

All he had to do to end the final wave was duck into his shell. They all leaped into the exact same area, so they all landed squarely on the spikes in his shell. Bowser groaned and shook all five corpses off. The corpses crashed on the ground and buckled like ragdolls, bleeding out on the floor.

"All right, so, about Mario. It would almost be a shame to lose him, the target of eternal vengeance I've hated since I was a mere toddler, but nostalgia has to be put aside. You need to move on, and you don't get change by waiting for it-you MAKE it. You BE the change you desire, and you get it. That's why I rule you. I AM the change. You have all paid the price for centuries of being weak, spineless cowards. It is my sworn duty, as your ruler, to fix this. It is time for a new age of Mushroomers. I will turn each and every one of you, into iron-fisted, cold-blooded, productive warriors-right before I kill each and every one of you."

Bowser slowly arched an eyebrow to one final Toad warrior.

Even he could tell this was hopeless. He simply cocked his shotgun, stuck the end into his mouth, and pulled the trigger before Bowser could give him a more painful demise.

"Either this will all work out, and we'll cement our place in history as the greatest, the brightest, and I'll kill you slowly and painfully, or, it won't pan out, and I'll kill you sooner than I would have… it will all depend on how willing you are to learn, and how willing you are to listen. Meet me halfway, and I'll carry you to the top."

He paused, slowly looking back up at the crowd. "Are you with me."

He folded his arms. And thus, his speech concluded.

This was quite a scene to take in-their mortal enemy, red as a hell demon, standing in an inhumanly large pile of blood, organs, and brain matter, asking for their support. Nobody was quite sure how to react.

After a while, half the entire club erupted in applause and cheering. The other half still stood in the snow in shock, but still nodding when people yelled 'THAT WAS AWESOME!' People hollered at the top of their lungs, leaped in front of their chairs, ripped off their shirts, chanted Bowser's name, and overall went crazy. A whole group of Toads even ran up and carried their ruler offstage.

How did it feel to Bowser?

It felt awesome. Fucking awesome. Of course, he knew they were going to return to war soon after, but he had asserted his dominance.

"Yeah, YEAH! This is what I'm talkin' about!" the king chortled. "In no time, we'll be the strongest kingdom that ever was!

As the king excited the room, Maverick could just barely be made out grumbling under his breath. He looked up, shook his undersized fist, and when he made eye contact with Bowser, made a not very subtle throat-slitting gesture.

"This isn't over, Bowser…" he threatened through gritted teeth.

Bowser found that rather cute, and couldn't help but lightly snicker.

And with that, the next step had finally concluded. And the best part? Now he knew exactly what was next…. If they thought life was hell now, then they haven't even gotten a lick of what was to come next….

"King me..."

* * *

 _Meanwhile, at 12:15 PM….._

During the speech, our heroes ambled on their quest to the Beanbean Kingdom. They had continued walking for hours. Of course, there was the occasional request for a break, but Mario insisted they soldiered on.

As of the present, though, it was obvious that it was time for the break. Their feet ached and they needed a rest. Just as well, as the Border between the Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom lay right next to them, less than 5 feet away.

"BOY, my legs are stiff as a mother fucker!"

"Chill-a, Toad." Mario stopped walking and held up his index finger. The others didn't argue with him. They just stopped, grateful for the rest.

Quick update. They were currently traversing the purple, rocky, star covered ground of the Stardust Fields. So much had happened the last time Mario had come, and never in a hundred years did he expect to return at the scene of the crime again. Stardust Fields was still as lovely as it ever was; the damp, purple ground had a strangely alluring beauty to it, and seemed a natural complement to the perpetually night sky. Old, antiquated barrels surrounded the terrain, organized in long single-file lines as far as the eyes can see. There was not a sound to be heard but the hero's footsteps, but that was perfectly fine, because anything else would have distracted from the natural beauty of this favorite stargazing location.

 _The past-a_ , Mario thought, _It really DOES-a repeat itself-a_.

"Doesn't this just-a take you back-a, brother?"

"...Yeaah, we don't-a really have time-a for that," said Mario.

"C'mon, lighten up a little." Luigi leaned down in front of his bro, crouching down until he made firm eye contact. "I know-a, we have a lot-a riding on our success-a here. I know, I know-a, the stakes-a are higher than they ever have-a been. But even so-a, you have to lighten up at least a little-a! You've still got to take some time to relax-a. Like, right-a now! We can afford to take a rest-a and count our blessings-a! Trust me on this-a one. Keeping a positive-a attitude will only be better-a for you and your mental state-a. You might be laughing at me silently. You might-a think that's crazy-a. But would I-a tell you this if I didn't feel-a at least a little confident it would help-a? I'm your bro-a. That's what I'm-a here for!" He gave Mario a nice, reassuring smile.

Mario smacked his lips and looked back into his bro's eyes. It took a while, but eventually, he sighed and patted his bro on the shoulder.

"You always-a know what to say to me-a..."

Luigi clamped his bro on the back. "That's-a the spirit."

"Is that…"

Mario had just noticed something. He saw, directly in front of him, the old, beat up castle signifying the border between kingdoms. He smiled.

"Yep. We're-a here. Y'all got your passports-a?"

Luigi took his out and waved it around like it was expensive jewelry. "You know-a me. Never leave home-a without it."

Meanwhile, Toad's perky face morphed into a dumbstruck face instantaneously. "...Shit! I….. Goddammit, I….. didn't think I'd need it."

Mario stared at Toad blankly. "...Really. You didn't-a think you'd-a need it. You.. you just-a left it."

"...Well….." Toad realized it wasn't gonna sound good, no matter what he said. "A..a-actually, I-Fine. Called my bluff. Never had one. Didn't see why the hell I needed it."

Mario groaned and muttered a quick obscenity under his breath.

"...Uh huh-a. I mean, I don't-a blame you," said Mario. "We're only, uh….. Oh-a! Right! CROSSING A FUCKING-A BORDER. Gee, why would-a you need a passport-a for that-a, huh?"

Toad ran out of responses. An awkward stretch of silence ensued. Toad leaned back on one of the barrels behind him, scratched the back of his hand and sheepishly laughed.

Mario sighed. "You're-a hopeless." He shook his head... then flipped his frown upside down. "But I'm-a just joshing ya, pal-a! You don't-a need one!... Well-a, not this-a time!"

"...Huh? Word?" Toad arched an eyebrow and leaned forward.

"Yep-a. Me and Luigi, we're tight-a with the guards of this place-a. Aren't we-a, bro?"

Luigi chuckled. "Yeah, you could say-a that. We're-a real close….. But you're still my number 1.5 friend, Shroom-boy."

"We'll vouch for you," said Mario. "If they-a understand you're-a with us-a, then… well, you're-a golden." Mario clamped Toad on the back and smiled at him.

Toad smiled and held up his hand. He had such awesome friends. "Fist bump?"

"Obliged." Mario and Toad held up their hands. They looked each other in the eyes and nodded. They bumped fists twice, twisted their hands around, stuck out their respective index fingers and pinkies, then pulled their hand back and made an explosion noise with their mouths.

"...Best-a secret handshake ever-a."

"Totes. Now, if you excuse me, I'm gonna hit the hay." Toad looked at the floor and grimaced. "...Wherever I can find a comfy spot."

"Good idea," said Mario. "Now, I don't want to sound like a party pooper, but you all should get some rest now. We've got a big day ahead of us."

Big was quite an understatement. Tomorrow, they'd go through the border and into the Beanbean Kingdom proper, and their adventure would truly begin. For now, though, who had time for that? There comes a time in everyone's life where the best thing for one to do is lie a blanket down, stare at the sky, and stargaze without a care in the world, and this sure as hell was that time.

 _I really should ease up. Take it easy, y'know?_ Mario thought to no one in particular. How often does he get quiet moments like this to just relax with the people closest to him underneath a beautiful night sky?

Living is temporary. Legacy is forever. This is what life is truly about. These little quiet moments.

This night sky… it felt emblematic of life itself. It was dark, and yet it wasn't dark at the same time. Looking up at the inky blackness of the night sky, it was easy to just completely lose yourself in the all-encompassing beauty. Stars littered the sky. Some red, dull and dying, some white, littering the sky like quality diamonds, and a rare few blue, starting out their journey. This was one of the finest night skies that had ever existed.

Looking at it, Mario felt…. Overwhelmed. He didn't imagine it possible to feel eternity, but now, he learned. It was possible. Very possible. Seeing the limitless universe expanding and stretching beyond the deepest abysses of any mortal being's comprehension; mixed with the pretty stars everywhere and the tints of blue and smoky red at the highest and lowest respective points…. It puts a lot in perspective. It was very much spiritual in nature, like an existential rapture few experience. He waved his hand, and swore he felt it sort of mixing into the sky.

 _This is bigger than me._ Mario chuckled softly to himself.

"What's that?" asked Luigi.

"...Look at all this stuff in the sky. Notice it expanding."

"Yeah."

"It's so odd. Really, I actually kinda feel like an ant-a. Don't you-a feel that? I'm like-a some tiny-ass speck-a in a dream. A Maze Runner-a, except the maze-a is an infinite world-a far beyond perspective-a."

Much to Mario's surprise, Luigi nodded. "Imagine that. A profound thought from you." He laughed at the absurdity.

"..Go to hell-a," Mario responded, lightly shoving his bro away while the latter chuckled.

"But damn-a, this is actually kinda depressing-a. It really reminds-a me how small-a we are-a..." Luigi stared at the sky and sighed.

Mario nodded back. Luigi didn't fully explain himself, but they're brothers, they didn't need to hear everything to understand what they meant. When you look at a beautiful starlight sky and think too hard, you can sometimes feel... tiny. Nobody knew what was going on beyond their pristine world, and perhaps they were doomed to never know. On other planets, mass wars, genocides, armageddons could be going on. Even if all the people on Earth were to suddenly go extinct, it would change nothing in the cosmic realm of things. Is this a bad thing? That's a hard question to answer. There is something wondrous about drawing your own conclusion to a truth you'll never know. Would he love to see those other planet's stories unfold? Hell yeah. But his imagination was the only thing that could suffice to fill those eternally empty blanks. Imagination is a powerful weapon, though, so it was satisfactory. For now. Either way, even on all those other unknown planets, the whole universe's story couldn't be told. It was a much deeper story than that. The blackness everywhere covers up something much greater, like a giant blanket from God's hand on every planet. And that isn't getting into the greater multiverse. Are there even planets in other universes? Is there a link to other universes? Could all become one someday? How could so many universes exist, when this one already stretches well beyond infinity? its an ever expanding universe, contracting without purpose, or reason, just expanding into wherever without a place to expand into. It hurt thinking about it, but he didn't mind. In fact, this was amongst the most fun shower thoughts he had ever had.

And though he never could prove this, he had a gut feeling that somebody on the exact opposite end of the multiverse was lying on a spot on his (her?) world, pondering the exact same question. He waved in front of him, as a goodwill gesture, just in case.

* * *

… _.In another location…_

A gun-shy, red-headed, humanoid, green-skinned, thin extraterrestrial girl lay down on the empty, brownish-reddish ground underneath her. There was no life on her world as far as she could observe. Nothing but a bunch of land everywhere and herself, at least to the extent of her knowledge. She knew she couldn't be all alone. She just knew. She had wandered all day, and now she was plum tuckered out.

She had been staring at the sky, wistfully wondering what else there was. She felt something waving at her. She couldn't ever prove it. But she perked up and gleefully waved back into the reddish sky of her universe, in the exact equivalent spot on the opposite side of infinity where Mario lay. In that one split second wave, she felt…. United. To…. something she could never understand. She wasn't quite sure. But if felt damn great. She felt a strange feeling, whoever it was was probably going on his (or her) own adventure.

She let out a heavy sigh. She'll never know the legend that returned her thoughts. She'll never know if anybody really did wave at her. Either way, loneliness struck again. She knew as pointless as her adventure was in the grand scheme of things, on the scale of her little world, it was damn important. Maybe if she found a writer in all this mess, she'd submit this concept of the vast unknown and make fucking millions. Maybe name it "Eternal Vision." Something like that.

For now, though, it was time to hit the hay. Tired wanderers never accomplish much. She patted the leaves on the ground into to something semi comfy, and collapsed onto it. Big day ahead of her tomorrow. Big being an understatement; her whole adventure would truly pick up tomorrow. But why dwell on that now? She still had some good hours left in the night…

She looked back up at the sky, nodding and continuing to wonder what else was happening on other worlds. While this adventure she was going on meant everything to her, her entire life and then some, she knew, for that other adventurer, she and her story would be complete non-entities. He knew of this whole other world she would never be able to even get close to knowing, and vice versa.

"Imagine that…" She shook her head and laughed.

"Just imagine that…"

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
